Your Driving License Is Still Provincial. What Went Nationwide Is the International Permit.
Punjab's DLIMS has moved to Dastak. A learner license costs Rs 500 and is issued instantly. What is provincial and what went nationwide.
Two different things have been announced and they are getting mixed together, so here is the short version before anything else.
Your ordinary driving license is still provincial. There is no single national driving license and no national portal that issues one. What Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi approved on Tuesday 4 August 2026, chairing a meeting at the National Police Bureau, is a uniform nationwide system for the International Driving Permit, which is a separate document that only works alongside a licence you already hold.
Separately, and this is the change that affects most people today, Punjab's entire licensing system has moved to Dastak. If you had a DLIMS account, it is not where you left it.
The three documents people confuse
| Document | What it does | Who issues it |
|---|---|---|
| Learner license | Lets you learn to drive, before any test | Your province |
| Regular driving license | The actual licence, after a test | Your province |
| International Driving Permit | Translates your licence for use abroad. Worthless alone | Going to a uniform national system through the NPB |
The one that trips people up is the third. An IDP is not an international licence and it does not exist without a valid Pakistani licence behind it. We went through that in full, including the fake ten year international licences sold online, in the piece on international driving permits going online.
Punjab: DLIMS has moved to Dastak
We opened dlims.punjab.gov.pk to check. The site now runs as DLIMS 2.0 and carries a notice that all DLIMS services have moved to Dastak, the Government of Punjab's one window platform for government services.
What that means in practice: you create a Dastak account, and you link your existing DLIMS account to it to carry over previous applications. Form submission, verification, payment and card tracking all run through Dastak now.
Three licence types are handled there: learner, regular and international.
Applying for a learner license online
This is the part that is genuinely fast, and the portal's own answer to how long it takes is instantly.
- Create an account and log in on the licensing platform.
- Fill the application form with your details.
- Upload your documents.
- Generate a PSID, the payment identifier, and pay through ATM, online banking or mobile banking.
- Print your learner license. The digital copy sits in the account you created.
The fee is Rs 500 for each category, so a bike and a car are two fees rather than one. That figure is from the portal's own FAQ.
What you need to upload
- A picture of your face.
- A scan or photo of the front of your original CNIC.
- A scan or photo of the back of it.
- A medical certificate signed by a government doctor, but only if you are above 50.
Files need to be clear, within the size limits and in a normal format such as PDF or JPEG. Most rejected applications at this stage are a photographed CNIC at an angle, in bad light, with a thumb across a corner.
The regular license is a longer process
The learner is instant. The full licence is not, and the portal sets out six stages rather than five: account and login, application form, PSID generation, payment confirmation, administrative approval, then processing and dispatch.
Renewals and duplicates follow the same six stage path. The two extra stages are the point: someone reviews the application, and the card is physically produced and sent to you, which is why a renewal is not something to start the week your licence expires.
One thing the online process does not remove is the driving test itself. You still have to demonstrate that you can drive. A learner permit has to be held for a waiting period before you can sit that test, and the figure quoted almost everywhere is 42 days. We could not confirm that period on the portal's own pages, so confirm it with your licensing authority rather than planning a test date around a number from a blog.
What Punjab added in August
Punjab Traffic Police announced on 2 August 2026 that the licensing system has been made fully digital under DLIMS 2, with online issuance of new learner permits, licence renewals, duplicate licences, and online renewal of international driving licences for overseas Pakistanis.
Alongside it, 33 mobile police and licensing units have been deployed across the province to deliver services at people's doorsteps, and DIG Traffic Muhammad Waqas Nazir described an AI powered driving test vehicle as part of the modern licensing system.
The overseas renewal facility is the quietly useful one. Renewing from abroad previously meant a trip or a power of attorney, and it is the single most common licensing problem overseas Pakistanis write about.
Outside Punjab
Because licensing is provincial, there is no single answer, and this is where most guides quietly pretend otherwise. Each province and territory runs its own authority, and the right starting point is the traffic police or licensing body for where you live, not a national portal that does not exist.
We requested each of these and all of them returned a live page: islamabadpolice.gov.pk for Islamabad Capital Territory, sindhpolice.gov.pk for Sindh, ktc.kp.gov.pk for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's traffic corps, and npb.gov.pk for the National Police Bureau, which is where the international permit system is being centralised.
What we are deliberately not doing is publishing per province fees and step counts. Those differ, they change, and a wrong fee sends you to a bank counter with the wrong amount. Start at your own province's site.
Where the fee actually goes
Every one of these systems now runs on PSID, a payment slip identifier generated at the end of the application and paid through banking channels rather than at a counter with cash. It is the same mechanism behind passport fees and property taxes.
The practical consequence is that nobody legitimate collects a licence fee in cash from you personally. If someone offers to arrange a licence for a payment, that is not a shortcut through the system, it is a payment to a person. The same logic applies to challans, which is why we set out how to check your own record in the guide to checking a Punjab traffic challan online.
Questions readers are asking
Is there a new nationwide driving license in Pakistan?
No. Driving licences remain provincial. What was approved on 4 August 2026 is a uniform nationwide system for International Driving Permits through the National Police Bureau, which is a different document. No launch date, fee or portal name has been announced for it.
How do I apply for a driving license online in Pakistan?
Through your own province's system. In Punjab that is DLIMS, whose services have moved to the Dastak platform: create an account, fill the form, upload documents, generate a PSID and pay through banking channels.
How much is a learner license in Punjab?
Rs 500 for each category, according to the portal's own FAQ, so applying for both bike and car means two fees.
How long does a learner license take?
The portal says you receive it instantly once the form is completed and payment clears, with the digital copy available in your account.
What documents do I need?
A face picture, scans of the front and back of your original CNIC, and a medical certificate signed by a government doctor if you are above 50.
Do I still have to take a driving test?
Yes. The online system handles the application, payment and dispatch. It does not replace the test, and a learner permit must be held for a waiting period first.
Can overseas Pakistanis renew a licence from abroad?
Punjab announced online renewal of international driving licences for overseas Pakistanis as part of the DLIMS 2 rollout on 2 August 2026. Confirm the current position with the issuing authority before relying on it.
What happened to my old DLIMS account?
DLIMS services have moved to Dastak. You create a Dastak account and link the DLIMS one to transfer your previous applications.
About the author
Author
Ali Akhtar is a young and curious voice here at Pakistan Era. He is currently pursuing his A-Levels and has a growing interest in Pakistan’s changing industrial landscape and educational trends. Ali likes to write in a way that helps him explain and explore the world around him. His writing reflects the perspective of the new generation navigating the evolving trends of Pakistan where technology, youth innovation, and shifting opportunities are reshaping the country’s future.
