Apply for a Minorities Welfare Fund Grant in Pakistan: Rs 10,000 Aid and Rs 50,000 Marriage Grant
Apply for the Minorities Welfare Fund: up to Rs 10,000 aid once a year and a Rs 50,000 marriage grant for a widow's orphan daughter. Form, documents, steps.
Pakistan's Minorities Welfare Fund, run by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, gives a needy person from a minority community up to Rs 10,000 once a financial year. It also gives a grant of up to Rs 50,000 to a minority widow for her orphan daughter's marriage. You apply on the ministry's form, and a minority parliamentarian or the minister must recommend you.
We read the ministry's Minorities Welfare Fund page, its Interfaith Harmony FAQs and the application form on mora.gov.pk on 2 October 2026. The fund has run since 1985. It is small, and that shapes how you should apply.
The ministry gives Rs 13.5 million a year for financial assistance. At the full Rs 10,000 each, that pays about 1,350 people across the whole country in a year, by our own calculation. So a complete form and a strong recommendation matter.
The fund pays three kinds of help
The Minorities Welfare Fund pays one-off financial assistance of up to Rs 10,000, a marriage grant of up to Rs 50,000 for orphan daughters of minority widows, and merit scholarships for minority students. A separate share repairs minority places of worship.
| Help | Amount | Who it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Financial assistance | Up to Rs 10,000, once a financial year | A deserving person from a minority community |
| Marriage grant | Up to Rs 50,000 | A minority widow, for her orphan daughter's marriage |
| Scholarship | Rs 4,800 to Rs 60,000 a year | Minority students, on merit |
| Small development schemes | Rs 26.775 million in total | Repair of minority religious places |
Scholarships have their own yearly call, form and deadline. We cover them in the minority scholarship for 2026-27, so this page deals with the two cash grants.
Financial assistance needs a parliamentarian's recommendation
The Rs 10,000 assistance is not first come, first served. The ministry pays it on the recommendation of the Minister for Religious Affairs, the 4 minority Senators, the 10 minority MNAs on reserved seats, or the 1 minority MNA on an elected seat.
The ministry's FAQs put it simply: any deserving person from a minority community can apply "through prescribed forms via minority parliamentarians and the Minister". The form itself has a space at the bottom for the approved amount, the MNA's or Senator's signature, the date and a stamp.
That means your first step is not the ministry. It is the office of a minority member of the National Assembly or the Senate. Their names are on the National Assembly and Senate websites.
Apply for the grant in six steps
Download the form, fill in every box including your bank details and IBAN, attach your CNIC copy, take it to a minority parliamentarian for signature and stamp, and send it to the ministry's Interfaith Harmony Section in Islamabad.
- Download the form. It is "Application Form for Grant of Financial Assistance" under Forms on mora.gov.pk, in English with an Urdu version on the second page. You can also collect it from the ministry's Interfaith Harmony Section.
- Fill in your details. The form asks for your name, father's or husband's name, CNIC number, full postal address, age, community and profession.
- Add your bank account. The form says bank details must be filled: account title, account number, IBAN, bank, branch, branch code and mobile number. If you are unsure of your IBAN, find your IBAN before you start.
- Write the purpose. Say plainly what the money is for, such as medical bills, school fees or rent. Short and specific is better than long.
- Get it recommended. Take the signed form and a copy of your CNIC to a minority MNA or Senator. The form has spaces for their signature, the approved amount and a stamp.
- Send it to the ministry. Ask the recommending office whether it forwards the form or you should post it to the Interfaith Harmony Section yourself. Keep a photo of the completed form.
The form's header gives the ministry's address as the 8th Floor, Green Trust Tower, Blue Area, Islamabad. The form is not dated, so confirm the current address with the recommending office before you post anything.
The marriage grant needs four documents
A minority widow can get up to Rs 50,000 for her orphan daughter's marriage. She needs the prescribed form, CNIC copies for herself and her daughter, the father's death certificate, and a verification from an MNA, MPA, district officer or a religious committee.
The death certificate is often the document that holds people up. If you do not have one, you can apply for a death certificate through the union council first.
The ministry's FAQs list the verification as coming from an "MNA/MPA/DCO/Nazim/Religious Committee, etc." So for the marriage grant, a church committee, a temple committee or a gurdwara committee may be able to verify you, as well as an elected member.
Other help for minority families
The federal fund is small, so check provincial schemes too. Punjab runs its own quarterly payment for minority families, and some help from other bodies may suit your case better than a one-off Rs 10,000.
In Punjab, the CM Punjab Minority Card pays every quarter to registered families. Other provinces have their own minority affairs departments. The federal grant and a provincial scheme are run by different governments.
The ministry's own page shows two different totals for the fund. One line says the current allocation is Rs 85 million. A table on the same page gives Rs 100 million for 2025-26. The figures for each type of help, such as Rs 13.5 million for financial assistance, are the same in both.
Common questions
Who can apply for the Minorities Welfare Fund?
A deserving person from a minority community in Pakistan. The fund page says only non-Muslims may apply for its minority scholarships.
How much is the financial assistance?
Up to Rs 10,000, given once in a financial year, according to the ministry's FAQs.
Can I apply online?
Not for the cash grants. Only the scholarships have an online form. The grants use the paper form and a parliamentarian's recommendation.
Do I need a bank account?
Yes. The form says bank details, including the IBAN, must be filled in.
Who gets the marriage grant?
A widow from a minority community, for the marriage of her orphan daughter. The grant is up to Rs 50,000.
How long does it take?
The ministry does not publish a time. We did not apply, so we cannot give one.
How we verified this
What we checked, where we read it, and what we could not confirm.
Last checked on 2 October 2026. We read the ministry's Minorities Welfare Fund page, its Interfaith Harmony FAQs, and the financial assistance application form, all on mora.gov.pk. The figure of about 1,350 grants a year is our own calculation from the ministry's Rs 13.5 million allocation. The fund's total is given as both Rs 85 million and Rs 100 million on the same page. We did not apply.
About the author
Public Services and Education Journalist
Fajr Riaz is a journalist and content writer at Pakistan Era, based in Lahore. She covers the questions people meet in everyday life in Pakistan: how a public service works, what a change in the rules means, and where to find a reliable answer.
