How to Get a B-Form or Child Registration Certificate From NADRA

The rule that decides how you apply for a B-Form is your child's age, and the cutoff is one year.

Under one: the application can be completed online, because there are no biometrics to capture. One year and above: you will be visiting a NADRA Registration Centre, because the child's biometrics have to be taken in person.

Everything else people argue about online follows from that single distinction.

What a B-Form actually is

The Child Registration Certificate, universally called the B-Form, is the identity document for a Pakistani citizen under 18. It is the document that carries the child's name, date of birth, and the link to their parents in NADRA's records.

It is not the same thing as a birth certificate issued by a union council, and this confuses people constantly. The union council birth registration records the birth locally. The B-Form is the national identity record. Most institutions want the B-Form.

Applying online, for a child under one

1. Sign up on the Pak Identity portal or the Pak ID mobile app with your CNIC and mobile number.
2. Choose the Child Registration Certificate service.
3. Enter the child's details, name, date of birth, gender and address.
4. Both parents confirm their identity digitally.
5. Pay by debit card, credit card or mobile wallet.
6. Receive it, with home delivery available, and same day registration reported in some cities.

Note step four. Both parents confirm identity. If one parent is abroad, unavailable, deceased or the marriage has ended, that step is where the online route stops being simple and the centre visit becomes the practical option, because those situations need documentation rather than a tap.

Applying in person, for a child aged one or over

The reason is biometric. From one year, NADRA captures the child's biometrics, and there is no remote way to do that.

Take to a NADRA Registration Centre: both parents' CNICs, the child, and any existing documentation of the birth such as a hospital record or a union council birth registration. Practice varies slightly between centres on what supporting evidence they want, so ring ahead or check the requirement list before travelling with a small child.

The fee

The B-Form fee is reported at Rs 50 for normal processing and Rs 500 for executive.

We are labelling that as reported. NADRA's own site blocks automated requests, so we could not read the fee schedule from the authority directly, and we do not state a fee as verified when we have not seen it at source. Confirm it at the centre or in the app, where the amount is generated for your actual application.

What that figure does tell you, even as a reported number, is the scale of the thing. This is a Rs 50 document. Anybody quoting thousands to arrange one is not charging you for the certificate.

Get the spelling right the first time

This is the part worth more than everything else on this page.

The name and date of birth recorded on the B-Form propagate. They go onto school records, then onto board examination registration, then onto certificates, then onto the CNIC at 18, and eventually onto a passport. A spelling variation entered casually at a counter when your child is two becomes a mismatch on a degree at twenty-two, and correcting a chain of documents is dramatically harder than getting one right.

Three specific traps:

1. Decide the English spelling of the name deliberately, and use exactly that everywhere afterwards.
2. Check the date of birth digit by digit before you accept the record.
3. Match the father's name exactly as it appears on his CNIC, not as the family says it. A middle name present on one document and absent on another is a real problem later.

We see the downstream version of this constantly, from board result mismatches at result checking time to identity problems at CNIC application.

Where the official route is

NADRA's Pak Identity portal and the Pak ID mobile app are the online routes, and NADRA Registration Centres are the in-person route. NADRA does not appoint agents, and there is no third-party service with privileged access to the system.

We should be straight with you about our own verification here: nadra.gov.pk returned a 403 to our automated request. That is a bot block rather than an outage, and the site is live for ordinary users in a browser. It does mean the process detail and fees on this page come from reporting rather than from NADRA's own pages, unlike our passport and driving licence guides where we read the authority's tables directly. Treat this guide as the shape of the process and the centre or app as the authority on the specifics.

Questions readers are asking

How do I apply for a NADRA B-Form?

For a child under one year, online through the Pak Identity portal or the Pak ID app. For a child aged one or over, at a NADRA Registration Centre, because biometrics have to be captured in person.

What is the B-Form fee?

Reported at Rs 50 for normal and Rs 500 for executive processing. We could not read NADRA's own fee schedule, so confirm the amount in the app or at the centre.

Can I get a B-Form online for a five year old?

No. Online registration applies to children below one year. From one year, the child's biometrics must be verified in person at a registration centre.

Is a B-Form the same as a birth certificate?

No. A union council birth certificate records the birth locally. The B-Form, or Child Registration Certificate, is NADRA's national identity record for a child under 18, and it is what most institutions require.

Do both parents need to be involved?

In the online route, both parents confirm their identity digitally. Where one parent is unavailable, abroad or deceased, the registration centre route with supporting documentation is the practical path.

What documents should I bring to the centre?

Both parents' CNICs, the child, and any existing record of the birth such as a hospital record or union council registration. Requirements vary slightly between centres, so check before travelling.

Why does the spelling on the B-Form matter so much?

Because it propagates to school records, board certificates, the CNIC at 18 and the passport. A variation entered once becomes a mismatch across a whole document chain, and fixing it later is far harder than getting it right now.