Benazir Mazdoor Card Sindh Registration: Why You Need Your Employer and SESSI First
Benazir Mazdoor Card registration in Sindh runs through your employer and SESSI, not a public form. See the 5 steps, benefits and warning signs on fake sites.
You cannot sign up for the Benazir Mazdoor Card yourself on any portal we could find. In Sindh it is the worker card from SESSI. Your employer registers the business and then you, NADRA records your biometrics at a SESSI field office, and the card follows. SESSI's help lines are 0800-33772 and 021-111-173-774.
A worker hears that the Sindh government gives a card with free treatment and grants. He searches for a form. What he finds is a page of websites asking for his CNIC. We looked on 7 November 2026 at SESSI's website and at the Sindh Labour Department's site, and neither shows a public online form for workers.
SESSI is the Sindh Employees' Social Security Institution, which runs social security for factory, shop and office workers in the province. This guide sets out the route as SESSI describes it, and what we could not confirm.
The Benazir Mazdoor Card is SESSI's card for secured workers
SESSI's registration page, read for our October guide, says it has recorded each worker's biometrics and family details through NADRA at its field offices since January 2022, and that the worker then gets a Benazir Mazdoor Card. You show it for treatment and for cash benefits.
A "secured worker" is SESSI's term for a worker whose employer pays social security contributions. So the card follows from a paid-up job, not from a poverty test. That is the main difference from BISP or a ration card.
| Question | What SESSI's pages say |
|---|---|
| Who registers you? | Your employer, after registering the business |
| Who records biometrics? | NADRA, at SESSI field offices, since January 2022 |
| Who pays the monthly contribution? | The employer: 6 per cent of your wage |
| Fee to register a unit | None, SESSI says |
| Older card | Form R-5 is still accepted on SESSI's benefit forms |
Plans to widen the card to all labourers remain reported
When the card launched on Labour Day in 2021, ministers were reported as saying later phases would cover drivers, self-employed workers and all labourers. We could not find a SESSI or Labour Department page that opens registration for those groups today, so treat the wider plan as reported.
The gap is worth stating plainly. Sindh's Labour Department site lists minimum wage notices, including its 2026 rates, yet no card scheme on the pages we read. SESSI's own news and press release pages showed no dated card notice to us. If you are a rickshaw driver or a daily wage worker with no employer, we found no route for you to apply for this card.
That could change. If the department opens a form, it should sit on lhr.sindh.gov.pk or sessi.gov.pk. A site with a different address, or a person asking for a fee, is not that form. The separate labour registration on the NADRA portal is a different scheme, so do not mix the two.
Ask your employer for registration first
Your first move is a short talk with your employer or its HR office. Ask whether the business is registered with SESSI and whether your name has been sent. New businesses sign up through the Sindh Business Registration Portal at business.sindh.gov.pk, and SESSI says that costs nothing.
- Ask your employer whether the unit is registered with SESSI.
- Ask whether your name is on its list of workers, and on what date it was sent.
- Ask for the date of your NADRA biometric at the SESSI field office.
- Go with your original CNIC and your family details, when you are called.
- Collect your card, and keep a photo of it at home.
What if your employer refuses? Go to your nearest SESSI directorate and ask how to report a business that has not registered. SESSI lists 14 directorates, from SITE and Korangi in Karachi to Hyderabad, Kotri, Mirpur Khas and Sukkur. Bring a salary slip, an attendance record or anything else showing that you work there.
You should not be paying for this. SESSI's contribution page says the employer pays 6 per cent of your wage. It is worth asking if money for "social security" is being cut from your pay, and worth a record if so. Your wage rights are in the Sindh minimum wage rates.
The card opens medical care and nine cash benefits
SESSI's home page lists nine cash benefits: sickness, injury, death grant, iddat, maternity, disablement gratuity, disablement pension, survivors' pension and an ex-gratia award. It also lists hospitals at SITE, Landhi, Hyderabad, Kotri and Sukkur, and a kidney centre.
| Benefit | SESSI's rate as read in October 2026 |
|---|---|
| Sickness | 75 per cent of last wage, 100 per cent for TB or cancer |
| Injury at work | 100 per cent of last wage |
| Maternity | 100 per cent of last wage for 12 weeks |
| Death grant | Rs 15,000, or 30 days of sickness benefit if higher |
Claim windows are short, as little as 7 days from your first certificate. So learn them before you need them. Our full list of forms and deadlines is in claiming SESSI benefits in Sindh. Figures on that page are SESSI's own, and one warning from it holds: the Rs 37,000 wage ceiling quoted on SESSI's contribution page looks old against the current minimum wage.
Close any site that asks for money or your CNIC
SESSI says registering a unit is free. A worker should not be paying a website or an agent for a card, and the card is issued after a NADRA biometric, so typing a CNIC on a site cannot produce it. A form asking for both is not SESSI's.
Use these checks before you share anything:
- The address must end in sindh.gov.pk or sessi.gov.pk. We found no other official address for this card.
- No payment should be asked of the worker, by SMS or by an agent.
- Never share a photo of your CNIC or a code from an SMS with a stranger.
- If you have been charged, tell SESSI on 0800-33772 or at info@sessi.gov.pk.
Delays are a different matter. If a directorate does not act on your written request, you can go to the Sindh Ombudsman. Workers in Punjab deal with PESSI, under separate rules set out in PESSI benefits for Punjab workers. Old age pension belongs to the federal EOBI, and the EOBI pension claim is separate.
Common questions
How do I apply for the Benazir Mazdoor Card online?
We found no public online form for workers. Your employer registers the business and you with SESSI, then NADRA records your biometrics at a SESSI field office.
Who is eligible for the Benazir Mazdoor Card?
On SESSI's pages it is a registered worker whose employer pays social security. Wider plans for all labourers were reported, but we found no open route for them.
Is there a fee for the Benazir Mazdoor Card?
SESSI says registering a unit is free and the employer pays the contribution. We found no fee for a worker. Report anyone who asks you for one.
Can a self-employed worker get the Benazir Mazdoor Card?
We could not find an official way to do this today. Ask SESSI on 0800-33772 and check lhr.sindh.gov.pk for any new notice.
What do I show at a SESSI hospital?
Your Benazir Mazdoor Card, or the older R-5 card, which SESSI's forms still accept.
Is the Benazir Mazdoor Card the same as the Benazir Hari Card?
No. The Benazir Hari Card is for farmers, under a separate scheme, and SESSI does not issue it.
How we verified this
What we checked, where we read it, and what we could not confirm.
Last checked 7 November 2026, when we read the SESSI home page (benefits, medical network and help lines) and the Sindh Labour Department site. Neither shows a public card form. SESSI's registration, contribution and benefit pages showed us no text this time, so the January 2022 NADRA rule, the 6 per cent, the free unit registration and the rates are as we read them on 3 October 2026. The 2021 launch and the plans to widen the card are reported, not read at SESSI. We did not apply for a card.
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.
