How to Track Your NADRA Application: Text 8400 and Read the Reply

You applied for a CNIC, a B-Form, a NICOP or a passport-linked document, you were given a receipt with a tracking number on it, and now you want to know where it is.

Text that number to 8400. NADRA replies in seconds with the current status.

That is the whole answer. The rest of this page is the detail that makes it actually work, because the most common reason people get no reply is that they sent the number wrong.

The three ways to check

The SMS is charged at the standard rate for that shortcode, and it needs an active Pakistani mobile network. If you are abroad, use the app or the portal instead.

On the app, install only the one published by the National Database and Registration Authority. We checked the store listing ourselves on 12 August 2026 and that is the publisher name to look for, not the app name. There are other identity-branded apps by private developers, which we covered in our test of Pakistan's government apps.

Ignore what everyone says about the digits

Search this and you will find pages telling you the tracking ID is 10 digits. You will find others telling you it is 12.

They cannot both be right, and we could not settle it at source for reasons explained below. So here is the answer that works either way.

Do not count the digits. Copy exactly what is printed on your receipt.

This matters because people who read "it should be 10 digits" and see 12 on their receipt sometimes decide they have made a mistake and trim it. Then nothing comes back, and they conclude the service is broken.

Four rules for the message itself:

1. Send only the number. Nothing else in the message.
2. No spaces and no dashes, even if the receipt prints them.
3. Do not add your name, your CNIC or the word "status". It is an automated system and it will not understand.
4. Check for a typo before assuming failure. A single wrong digit returns nothing, not an error.

What the reply actually means

The reply comes back with a status and the date it last changed. The common ones:

Under Process. It is in the system and being worked on. This covers a lot of ground, from initial checks to verification, so it is the least informative status and the one people sit on longest.

Printed. Your card physically exists. This is the point at which the outcome is settled and it becomes a delivery question rather than an application question.

Dispatched. It has left NADRA. From here it is with the delivery service or waiting at the centre you nominated.

The date matters as much as the word. A status that has not moved in several weeks usually means something is queried rather than merely slow, and that is the point to go and ask rather than keep texting.

If nothing comes back at all

Work through these in order before concluding the service is down.

1. Re-read the number off the receipt. Most failures are a mistyped digit or a dropped leading zero.
2. Send it with no other characters. Autocorrect sometimes inserts a space.
3. Check you are on a Pakistani network. The shortcode will not work from a foreign SIM.
4. Make sure you have balance. It is a charged message.
5. Try the app instead, which does not depend on the SMS route at all.

If all of that fails, go to the centre where you applied and take the receipt. A tracking ID that returns nothing days after an application sometimes means the application was not completed at the counter.

Do not type your tracking ID into a random website

This is worth a paragraph because these queries attract exactly the wrong kind of site.

Several pages ranking for NADRA tracking invite you to enter your tracking ID, or your CNIC number, into a form on their own domain. They are not NADRA, and there is no reason a third party needs your identity document number to tell you how to send a text message.

The safe routes are the three above: the SMS shortcode, the app published by NADRA, and NADRA's own portal. If a site is asking for your CNIC to "check your status", close it.

We have documented this pattern repeatedly, including in our test of Pakistani government websites, where the address in circulation is frequently not the working one.

Why we could not verify this on NADRA's own site

Being straight about the limits of this page.

We tried to read the tracking instructions on nadra.gov.pk and id.nadra.gov.pk on 13 August 2026. Both returned a 403 to our request.

That is a bot block, not an outage. NADRA's site refuses automated requests and works perfectly normally in an ordinary browser. We are saying this clearly because describing a working national identity service as "down" would be a serious error, and it is one a lot of sites make.

So the 8400 shortcode and the status names here are consistent across reporting rather than read off NADRA's own page. The practical advice, copy the receipt exactly and send nothing else, holds regardless.

We have also deliberately not published a tracking URL, because we could not load NADRA's page to confirm the current path, and sending people to a guessed address on an identity service is precisely the mistake worth avoiding.

While you are waiting

If the application is a new or renewed CNIC, the process and documents are in our guide to applying for a CNIC online.

If it is for a child, the B-Form process is separate and set out in B-Form child registration.

And if your CNIC has been issued but something on it is wrong, corrections are their own process rather than a new application.

Questions readers are asking

How do I check my NADRA tracking ID?

Text the tracking ID from your receipt to 8400 from a Pakistani mobile number. Send only the number, with no spaces, dashes or extra words.

How many digits is a NADRA tracking ID?

Sources disagree, with some saying 10 and others 12. Do not count. Send exactly what is printed on your receipt.

Is checking the status free?

The SMS is charged at the standard rate for the shortcode. The app and the online portal do not carry an SMS charge.

What does Under Process mean?

Your application is in the system and being worked on. It covers everything from initial checks to verification, which is why it can sit there a while.

My status has not changed in weeks. What now?

That usually indicates a query rather than a queue. Take your receipt to the centre where you applied rather than continuing to text.

Can I check from outside Pakistan?

Not by SMS, since the shortcode needs a Pakistani network. Use the PAK IDENTITY app or the Pak-ID portal instead.

Which app is the official one?

PAK IDENTITY, published by the National Database and Registration Authority. Check the publisher name in the store rather than the app name.