How to Get a Family Registration Certificate from NADRA

A Family Registration Certificate is NADRA's record of who your family is. Embassies ask for it constantly, and so does any process that has to establish who is related to whom.

It costs Rs 1,000 and is issued in a day. The part that trips people up is that there is more than one of them.

Which family the certificate covers

There is also a By All certificate covering both, and a By Adoption category showing a guardian and adopted family members.

One inconsistency worth knowing before you go. NADRA's fee schedule lists a gama family alongside alpha and beta, while the FRC page itself describes only alpha and beta. We do not know what gama covers and are not going to guess. If a requirement mentions it, ask at the centre.

What it costs

These come from NADRA's own fee schedule, read on 18 August 2026.

Two things stand out. There is no normal or urgent tier. The FRC is listed under the executive category only, which is why it comes back in a day rather than a fortnight.

And the clock starts when the fee is paid, not when you fill the form. If you pay late in the day, count from the payment.

The mistake that costs a visa appointment

This is the whole reason to read the distinction above carefully.

An embassy asking for proof of your parents and siblings will not accept a certificate listing your spouse and children. They are different documents answering different questions, and the counter issues exactly what you asked for.

Discovering that at a submission window means paying again, waiting again, and in many cases losing an appointment slot that was booked weeks ahead.

So read the requirement wording rather than the word FRC. If it says family of origin, parents, or unmarried status, that is the alpha certificate. If it says spouse and dependants, that is beta.

If the wording is ambiguous, buy both. Rs 2,000 against a missed appointment is not a close decision.

Everyone on it has to be registered

To be eligible, all family members should be registered with NADRA and hold a valid 13 digit identity number.

There is an exception worth knowing. Unregistered individuals who have died, and in certain circumstances living ones, can still be included, with their particulars recorded from what the applicant provides.

That matters for older families where a parent died before computerised records, and it is the difference between a usable certificate and an incomplete one.

If a living family member has no CNIC, or theirs has expired, deal with that first. Tracking an application is covered in the NADRA tracking guide, and what the number itself encodes is in what every digit of your CNIC means.

Check the record before you need the certificate

An FRC prints what NADRA holds. It does not correct it.

So if a name is spelled differently from a passport, a date of birth is wrong, or somebody is missing from the family record entirely, the certificate reproduces that error onto official paper and the problem surfaces at the worst moment.

1. Establish which family type the requirement actually asks for.
2. Check every member has a valid identity number and that it has not expired.
3. Check spellings against the document you will submit it alongside, usually a passport.
4. Fix any mismatch first, because a record correction is its own process with its own wait.
5. Then apply, and read the certificate before leaving the counter.

That last step takes a minute and saves a return trip.

Where the FRC is required

NADRA names immigration, visa processing and other legal or administrative purposes. In practice it turns up in three places.

Visa and immigration applications are the most common, particularly family reunification and dependant visas, where the whole question is who is related to whom.

Inheritance. NADRA validates legal heirs against the FRC when issuing a succession certificate, so an FRC with a family member missing stops that process before it starts. We set out that route in getting a succession certificate from NADRA.

Administrative proof of relationship, for pensions, benefits, education and anything where a form asks you to prove a family link rather than assert one.

What we could not verify

We read NADRA's FRC page and its fee schedule directly, and the figures and definitions above come from those.

We did not obtain an FRC ourselves, and NADRA presents its step by step application flow as images we could not read, so we are not narrating screens we have not seen. Expect to apply at a NADRA Registration Centre and take original identity documents.

NADRA's own page also poses the question of whether an FRC serves as proof of nationality. The answer did not render for us, so we are not answering it. If that matters to your application, ask at the centre rather than relying on any article.

Fees change. We have given the date we read them, and the fee schedule on nadra.gov.pk is the authority if the two ever disagree.

Questions readers are asking

What is a Family Registration Certificate?

A NADRA document recording and verifying your family composition, issued under Rule 19 of the NADRA (NIC) Rules 2002, used mainly for immigration and visa processing.

How much does an FRC cost?

PKR 1,000 for one family type and PKR 2,000 for both, per NADRA's fee schedule read on 18 August 2026.

How long does it take?

One day. It is offered under the executive category only, and the timeline starts after the fee is paid.

What is the difference between alpha and beta?

Alpha is the family you were born into, shown as FRC by birth, marriage and adoption. Beta is the family you formed by marriage, shown as FRC by marriage.

Which one does my visa application need?

Read the requirement wording rather than the word FRC. If it is ambiguous, buy both for Rs 2,000 rather than risk the appointment.

Can someone without a CNIC be included?

All members should hold a valid 13 digit identity number, but unregistered deceased individuals and, in certain scenarios, living ones can be included on the applicant's information.

Can I fix a wrong detail on the FRC?

Not on the certificate. It prints what NADRA holds, so the underlying record has to be corrected first, which is a separate process.