The federal government has decided to abolish the condition of having a National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP) for expatriates living abroad, who wish to travel to Pakistan.
Now, overseas Pakistanis will not require any such document to travel to Pakistan without a visa.
The decision was made following the recommendation of Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari.
The spokesperson of Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis said that Prime Minister Imran Khan himself has approved the decision.
The PM also said that the government will soon introduce a special incentives package to encourage expatriates to transfer remittances through proper banking channels.
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He directed the Finance Ministry, the State Bank of Pakistan, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), and the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to formulate a workable plan that ensures the removal of any hurdle in the remittance transfer mechanism via e-solutions.
National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP)
NICOP is a registration document that is issued to an eligible Pakistani who lives abroad or has a reference there. Notably, any citizen can apply for the document so that they can travel to Pakistan without a visa, in case they hold dual nationality.
Pakistani expatriates have long complained about the requirement of a NICOP many times, saying that it has been creating many problems for them.
How to check if the person is Pakistani without nicop
yaar itne faarigh dimagh ke na bano. Passport bhi koi cheez hai.
What is the case if some overseas Pakistani travels to Pakistan with foreign passport? How they will recognize if the person holding foreign passport is Pakistani or not?
Seriously, what happened to guys. Overseas Pakistani is a Pakistani citizen living abroad and have Pakistani passport. If he has foreign passport then either he is dual national or has forfeit Pakistani nationality. FYI, NICOP was made mandatory in recent times, it was not always there.
So you mean dual nationalists will not require any visa to visit Pakistan according the new announcement by government regarding removal of NICOP?
Yes,
So I have US passport and pakistani NIC, do I need a Visa or not?
Janab, I dont think that you fully understood the point of the question, I am a british born pakistani , holding a british passport, many years ago i had a pakistani passport aswell, as evidence of my dual nationality, I
also had a pakistani i.d. card issued to me whilst i was in Pakistan, however this was converted to a digital biometric nicop/nadra card and i was told that i didn’t need a pakistani passport anymore as the the nicop card would exempt me from requiring a visa on my british passport, however with demise of the nicop card, I won’t be able to evidence dual nationality in order to be exempt from the visa requirements as i will only have my british passport.
Also i will not be able to purchase a mobile phone or local sim card or conduct any financial transactions with pakistani banks amongst other things !
So, before the start of NICOP card you had been travelling to Pakistan with your British Passport plus Pakistan NIC Card only, right?
Why was visa/NICOP required for a visit to Pakistan if an expat had a Pakistani passport?
I visited Pakistan many times with Pak Passport and they never asked for NICOP. I think NICOP is only required for the people born outside PK or holding foreign passport.
I visited pak many times without pak passport and only NICOP, they didn’t ask for visa either. NICOP is for everyone who’s living outside Pak. My Pak passports been expired years ago and if i wish to travel now, what would be my options? travelling on NICOP was much easier, no need to hold multiple passports.
I live in Florida, USA. I possess NICOP, although I was born in District Karachi East.
I don’t think you have understood Aaqib’s question, I
was born in Britain, have a british passport, also had a pakistani passport many years ago, was then told that i didnt need to renew it and was asked to apply for a nicop card instead to evidence my dual nationality therefore removing the need for a visa, also the advantage of having a pakistani i.d. card would allow me to make transactions in pakistani banks, purchase mobile sim cards etc, etc, without hindrance, now with the demise of the nicop card, how will i evidence my dual nationality status ? it will also restrict my financial access amongst other things, these are not stupid questions !
still need visa if you don’t have pakistani passport or Nicop
You total KNOB
Why don’t overseas Pakistanis make NICOP? Instead of removing its hurdles, they finished it.
I wonder how many people were consulted before this decision was made or was it the outcome of just Imran-Bukhari one-on-one meeting?
its all bushtit talk. According to foreign ministry web side still need visa or Nicop .