PK · Citizenship by descent

Pakistani citizenship by descent

Reaches a grandparent. Every answer on this page is what Postern’s rulebook returns, word for word, with the law it cites. The free check runs the same rules.

Last verified 25 September 20264 sourcesNot legal advice

PK · PARENTLIKELYThrough a parentCitizenship by descent (s. 5)PK · GRANDPARENTPOSSIBLEThrough a grandparentPakistan Origin CardPK · GREAT-GRANDPARENTUNLIKELYThrough a great-grandparentThree generations
Routes
Citizenship by descent (s. 5) · Pakistan Origin Card, for a parent or grandparent (not citizenship)
Dual citizenship
Depends on the route and your home country

The stamps assume no one in the line became a citizen of another country before the next person in the line was born. What changes each answer is below.

On this page
  1. 01Who qualifies
  2. 02Dates that matter
  3. 03Mothers’ lines
  4. 04Keeping your citizenship
  5. 05The routes and the law
  6. 06The documents
  7. 07What it takes
  8. 08Where the records live
  9. 09Law changes
  10. 10Other doors
  11. 11Sources

01Who qualifies

Who qualifies, generation by generation

LIKELY

Can you claim Pakistani citizenship through a parent?

Citizenship by descent (s. 5)

A child of a Pakistani citizen is a citizen by descent, and your other citizenship is one Pakistan has a dual-nationality agreement with, so you can hold both.

What changes the answer

  • UNLIKELY
    If the parent is your mother and you were born before 2000Citizenship by descent (pre-2000 law)

    Before a 2000 amendment, citizenship by descent passed only through the father; a child of a Pakistani mother and foreign father born before the change did not acquire it this way.

POSSIBLE

Can you claim Pakistani citizenship through a grandparent?

Pakistan Origin Card

Pakistani citizenship by descent does not reach a grandchild directly, but a foreign national whose grandparent was a Pakistani citizen can get a Pakistan Origin Card: visa-free entry and standing to hold property and do business in Pakistan, though not citizenship, a vote or a Pakistani passport.

What would settle itWhether your parent could instead be shown to have held Pakistani citizenship at your birth, which would put you on the descent route instead.

UNLIKELY

Can you claim Pakistani citizenship through a great-grandparent?

Three generations

Pakistani citizenship by descent runs parent to child, and the Pakistan Origin Card reaches only a parent or grandparent who was a citizen; a great-grandparent line has no route we could find.

  • A foreign national whose parent or grandparent was a citizen of Pakistan may apply for a Pakistan Origin Card; the rule does not extend to a great-grandparent. NADRA: Pakistan Origin Card (POC)

02Dates that matter

The dates that matter

  1. 2000

    Section 5 originally conferred citizenship by descent only through the father; an amendment in 2000 extended it to a Pakistani mother. Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951, s. 5

03Mothers’ lines

How mothers’ lines were treated

In Pakistan’s rule, the answer changes when the line runs through a woman:

  • UNLIKELY
    If the parent is your mother and you were born before 2000Citizenship by descent (pre-2000 law)

    Before a 2000 amendment, citizenship by descent passed only through the father; a child of a Pakistani mother and foreign father born before the change did not acquire it this way.

In the law’s words

04Keeping your citizenship

Dual citizenship with your home country

  • DEPENDS
    Citizenship by descent (s. 5)

    A citizen of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia or New Zealand keeps it; a citizen of Brazil, Argentina or South Africa does not.

  • DEPENDS
    Pakistan Origin Card

    A citizen of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia or New Zealand keeps it; a citizen of Brazil, Argentina or South Africa does not.

05The routes

Every route, and the law behind it

Citizenship by descent (s. 5)

Open through a parent

  • LIKELY
    Through a parent

The law

Pakistan Origin Card

Open through a grandparent

  • POSSIBLE
    Through a grandparent

The law

What would settle an unsure case

  • Whether your parent could instead be shown to have held Pakistani citizenship at your birth, which would put you on the descent route instead.

Citizenship by descent (pre-2000 law)

Closed: no open answer on this route

  • UNLIKELY
    Through a parent, if the parent is your mother and you were born before 2000

    Before a 2000 amendment, citizenship by descent passed only through the father; a child of a Pakistani mother and foreign father born before the change did not acquire it this way.

The law

What would settle an unsure case

  • Whether the 2000 amendment has been applied to a birth before its effective date in any comparable case; this is worth checking directly with a Pakistani mission rather than assuming either way.

Three generations

Closed: no open answer on this route

  • UNLIKELY
    Through a great-grandparent

    Pakistani citizenship by descent runs parent to child, and the Pakistan Origin Card reaches only a parent or grandparent who was a citizen; a great-grandparent line has no route we could find.

The law

  • A foreign national whose parent or grandparent was a citizen of Pakistan may apply for a Pakistan Origin Card; the rule does not extend to a great-grandparent. NADRA: Pakistan Origin Card (POC)

06The documents

The documents, as the rule lists them

Citizenship by descent (s. 5)

Through a parent

  • Your parent's Pakistani CNIC, passport or citizenship record
  • Your birth certificate
  • Registration of the birth at a Pakistani consulate or mission, if your parent is a citizen by descent

Pakistan Origin Card

Through a grandparent

  • Your grandparent's Pakistani citizenship record (CNIC, passport or domicile certificate)
  • Birth records linking each generation to you
  • Your current passport

Most countries also want proof that no one in the line became a citizen elsewhere before the next birth: the naturalization record with its date, or a letter that none exists.

07What it takes

What it takes: time, cost, the hard part, who decides

Citizenship by descent (s. 5)

Time
A few weeks to a few months for a CNIC or NICOP and passport, once your parent’s Pakistani citizenship is confirmed.
Cost
About $100–250: certified and apostilled records, translations, and CNIC or passport fees.
The hard part
If your parent is themselves a citizen only by descent, the birth needed to be registered at a Pakistani consulate or mission; a family that skipped this step at the time cannot simply fix it later.
Who decides
A Pakistani consulate or mission for your address, or NADRA if applying in Pakistan.
The first record
Your parent’s Pakistani CNIC, passport or citizenship record, from NADRA, or the family’s own papers. Start with the family’s papers, then apply through NADRA or a Pakistani consulate for a NICOP or CNIC, giving your parent’s name and CNIC number if known. nadra.gov.pk

How it’s filed

Where
A Pakistani consulate or mission for your address, or NADRA if applying in Pakistan. office list
How
In person; you appear in person
Fee
Not confirmed: no official fee was found
Decision
4–17 weeks
What goes in the file (5)
  1. The NICOP or CNIC application, completed
  2. Your parent's Pakistani CNIC, passport or citizenship record
  3. Your birth certificate, apostilled
  4. Your parents' marriage certificate, if applicable
  5. If your parent is themselves a citizen by descent: proof the birth was registered at a Pakistani consulate or mission, or of the parent's government service abroad
What goes wrong (2)
  • Dual nationality survives only with the countries on Pakistan's agreement list (including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand); citizens of other countries face a harder choice.
  • Fee shown as a placeholder; NADRA and consulates price NICOP and CNIC issuance differently, and prices change.

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

Pakistan Origin Card

Time
A few weeks to a couple of months once your grandparent’s Pakistani citizenship record is in hand.
Cost
About $30–60 in NADRA fees, plus certified copies and courier costs.
The hard part
Documenting a grandparent’s Pakistani citizenship when the family emigrated decades ago and never renewed Pakistani identity documents.
Who decides
NADRA, online, or a Pakistani consulate or mission for your address.
The first record
Your grandparent’s Pakistani CNIC, passport or domicile certificate, from NADRA (National Database and Registration Authority). Apply through NADRA’s overseas portal or a Pakistani consulate, giving the grandparent’s name, CNIC number if known, and any surviving Pakistani identity document. nadra.gov.pk

How it’s filed

Where
NADRA, online, or a Pakistani consulate or mission for your address. office list
How
Online; no appearance needed
Fee
Not confirmed: no official fee was found
Decision
2–13 weeks
What goes in the file (4)
  1. The POC application, completed
  2. Your grandparent's Pakistani CNIC, passport or domicile certificate
  3. Birth and marriage records linking each generation to you
  4. Your current passport
What goes wrong (3)
  • The Pakistan Origin Card is an identity and travel document, not citizenship: no vote, no Pakistani passport, but visa-free entry and standing to hold property and do business in Pakistan.
  • Citizens of India, Israel and Taiwan are not eligible for a Pakistan Origin Card.
  • Fee shown as a placeholder; NADRA's published POC fee changes and varies by processing speed.

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

Estimates are honest ranges from official fee tables and what families report; where a fee or time could not be confirmed, it says so.

08Where the records live

Where each record lives, and how to ask for it

  • birth

    NADRA (National Database and Registration Authority), or the family's own retained papers

    Give the parent's or grandparent's full name and CNIC number if known; NADRA's overseas portal and Pakistani consulates can search by name where the number is lost.

    Ask
    Online, in English · request page ↗
    Takes
    2–13 weeks
    Good to know (1)
    • Unverified: turnaround for a NADRA record request from abroad where the family's own papers are incomplete.

    Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

Translations

Into
Urdu
Who may translate
No translation needed
About
$0–$0 a page

NADRA and Pakistani consulates generally accept English-language U.S. records without translation; unverified for documents in a third language.

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

The passport

Where
A Pakistani consulate or mission, once a NICOP or CNIC confirms citizenship; the Pakistan Origin Card is not a passport and carries no separate passport step.
Fee
Not confirmed
Time
2–9 weeks
  • Fee shown as a placeholder; consulates price Pakistani passports by validity and page count.

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

09Law changes

Recent and pending changes

The legislative watch has no pending bill or recent ruling recorded for Pakistan.

The watch re-reads the official pages behind this guide every day. When one changes, a person re-checks the rule before anything here moves.

10Other doors

If descent doesn’t reach you

2 residence programs lead to Pakistan without an ancestor, each with its own law and road to citizenship.

11Sources

Every source on this page

3 laws and official pages behind the answers, then the offices and pages behind the records and filing. Records and filing checked 25 September 2026.

  1. LawPakistan Citizenship Act, 1951 · s. 5; s. 5(2)
  2. LawDirectorate General of Immigration & Passports: Dual Nationality
  3. LawNADRA: Pakistan Origin Card (POC) · checked 25 September 2026
  4. RecordsNADRA, or the family’s own papers: Your parent’s Pakistani CNIC, passport or citizenship record · checked 25 September 2026

Not legal advice. Postern’s rulebook is written from the statutes and tested against documented cases; where the law is unsettled, the answer says “possible” or “unsure” rather than guess.

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