Pension Proof of Life in Pakistan Moves to NADRA, Banks Out
Federal and military pensioners now give proof of life through NADRA every six months, not at the bank. What changed, what you still do and where to complain.
Federal pensioners in Pakistan no longer give their proof of life to the bank. You now verify through NADRA, on the Pak-ID app or at a NADRA channel, at least once every six months. NADRA sends a Digital Life Signal straight to the accounts office, and your bank only pays the money.
The change comes from a revised standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by the Ministry of Finance on 18 September 2026. The State Bank of Pakistan sent it to every bank and microfinance bank as BPRD Circular Letter No. 19 of 2026 on 21 September, "for information and immediate necessary implementation". We read the circular and its five-page annex on sbp.org.pk. Everything below comes from those two documents unless we say otherwise.
For many retired people, the most useful line is this one: a pension account must not go dormant just because the pensioner missed a biometric check at the bank.
NADRA now sends your proof of life to the accounts office
Your proof of life now travels from NADRA to the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) or the Military Accountant General (MAG) through a secure computer link. Banks are cut out of verification. They act only as pension disbursement agencies, which means they hold the account and pay.
The SOP calls this message the Digital Life Signal. It is an electronic confirmation that the pensioner is alive. NADRA has joined its records to the CGA and MAG systems through an API, a direct link between two computer systems, so the signal does not pass through any bank.
The SOP says banks have "no statutory or administrative role" in collecting, keeping or checking proof of life certificates or biometric data in ordinary cases. It also abolishes the paper "Disburser's Half" booklet. Federal pensions are now paid only through the Direct Credit System, straight into your account.
That is a real shift. For years the twice-a-year bank queue was the part of retirement that elderly people dreaded most.
Federal and military pensioners covered by the change
The SOP covers federal government pensioners on the defined benefit scheme, including those living abroad who draw their pension in Pakistan. Its Annex-I names AGPR, the Military Accountant General and their sub-offices. Provincial offices join only after their own NADRA link is ready.
The opening paragraph of the SOP speaks of retired civil servants. Annex-I is wider. It lists these pension offices:
- The Accountant General of Pakistan Revenues (AGPR) and its sub-offices.
- The Military Accountant General and all its sub-offices, which is how military pensions are paid.
- Provincial Accountants General, and those of AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan.
- Departmental accounts offices, including Foreign Affairs, Pakistan Post, Forest Departments, National Savings (CDNS), Pakistan Mint, Pakistan Railways and PWD.
There is a catch for the last two groups. The annex says provincial and departmental offices "shall adopt and implement" the SOP only after they are fully connected with NADRA and CGA/MAG, and the State Bank is then told. So a provincial pensioner should not assume the new rules apply yet. Ask your own accounts office.
What pensioners must still do every six months
You still have to prove you are alive. The SOP requires a digital proof of life at least once every six months. The fixed March and September deadlines are gone, so you can verify at any time inside your own six-month window.
The system counts six months from your last successful check. So if you verified on 10 October, your next check is due before 10 April. These are the routes the SOP allows:
- Pak-ID app at home. NADRA's mobile app is the first route the SOP names. It suits a pensioner with a smartphone or a helpful grandchild.
- A NADRA Registration Centre. Walk in with your CNIC.
- A NADRA mobile unit. Useful in rural areas.
- An e-Sahulat franchise. These are NADRA's licensed shops.
- A bank branch or bank app working as a NADRA centre. A bank may still host NADRA's own system. It is acting for NADRA there, not checking you for itself.
If your fingerprints are faint with age, the face check on the app may work better. Our page on NADRA face and iris verification explains how those checks work.
A missed check pauses the pension but does not make the account dormant
If no life signal reaches the accounts office for six months in a row, your pension goes into "suspense status". Payments stop for a while. Your bank account does not become dormant, and the pension restarts automatically after your next valid check.
Under the SOP, the system restores the account to active "and release any accrued pension arrears, without requiring bank approval". So the months you missed are paid once you verify. The bank cannot block your account on its own either. The SOP says banks "shall not impose debit restrictions" for a missing proof of life.
| Your account | What the SOP says |
|---|---|
| Marked dormant before 22 August 2026 | Bank must reactivate it after a NADRA check at a branch, or once a pension credit from CGA/MAG arrives from September 2026 onwards |
| After 22 August 2026 | Must not be marked dormant under the 2025 payment rules |
| No life signal for six months | Suspense status: pension paused, account not dormant, restored on the next valid check |
| Money left in a suspended account | Bank returns it to the government only on a formal CGA/MAG notice stating the amount |
If your account froze in the past for this reason, the general steps in reactivating a dormant bank account still help. But for a pension account, quote the SOP first. The bank's usual paperwork does not apply to it.
What your bank can and cannot do now
Your bank must keep a pension account in your sole name, free of all service charges. It must not collect paper life certificates, take your fingerprints for pension purposes, or call you to the branch for a biometric check. If you bring papers, it must send you to NADRA.
The SOP also bans joint pension accounts, except where Rule 35(8) of the Federal Government Receipt and Payment Rules 2025 allows one. You can still change your bank under Rule 34 of the same rules.
So if a branch officer tells you to come in for "pension biometric", that request goes against the SOP. Stay polite. Ask the officer to read BPRD Circular Letter No. 19 of 2026.
The paper route for pensioners who cannot verify digitally
If you cannot do a digital check because of age, illness or no digital access, the SOP keeps a paper fallback. You submit a form at a District Accounts Office or pension facilitation centre, never at the bank. Staff there upload it into the central system.
- Form-10: the manual life certificate.
- Form-11: for pensioners living abroad who receive their pension in Pakistan.
- Form-12: the non-marriage or re-marriage declaration that some family pensioners must give. The SOP says an online system will replace it "in due course".
The SOP forbids banks from accepting any of these three forms. If you are still waiting for a first payment rather than a renewal, the steps for filing a government pension case come first.
Where to complain if a bank or office gets it wrong
Start with the accounts side. The SOP sends operational problems to the Finance Division through the State Bank or CGA/MAG, and tells banks to direct pensioners to CGA/MAG facilitation cells. If the bank itself refuses, complain to the bank in writing, then to the Banking Mohtasib.
- Keep proof. Note the date of your NADRA check and screenshot the app result.
- Go to your pension office. That is AGPR or its sub-office, your District Accounts Office, or the MAG office that pays you. Ask them to check your Digital Life Signal on their ledger.
- Write to your bank. If it blocked your account or refused payment, cite the circular number and the date.
- Escalate. If the bank does not fix it, the Banking Mohtasib hears complaints against banks. If a federal accounts office delays you, the Wafaqi Mohtasib hears complaints of maladministration by federal offices.
Common questions
Do I still need to visit the bank for my pension biometric?
No. Under the September 2026 SOP, banks must not ask federal pensioners to visit a branch for biometric proof of life. You verify through NADRA instead.
How often must I give proof of life now?
At least once every six months, at any time in that window. The fixed March and September deadlines were abolished.
What happens if I miss the six-month check?
Your pension goes into suspense status and payments pause. When you next verify, the system restores it and pays the arrears without bank approval.
Does this apply to provincial government pensioners?
Not automatically. Provincial Accountants General adopt the SOP only after their systems are linked with NADRA and CGA/MAG, so check with your accounts office.
Can my bank charge fees on my pension account?
No. The SOP says pension accounts must be kept free of all service charges.
I live abroad but get my pension in Pakistan. What do I do?
The SOP covers you. Use a NADRA digital route if you can. If not, Form-11 is the paper fallback, submitted through the accounts office route rather than a bank.
How we verified this
What we checked, where we read it, and what we could not confirm.
We read the State Bank's BPRD Circular Letter No. 19 of 2026, dated 21 September 2026, on sbp.org.pk, and its annex: the Ministry of Finance letter No. 2(115)PFMR-II-2022-2032 of 18 September 2026, Revised SOP for Digital Proof of Life and Pension Disbursement. The same letter is also on finance.gov.pk. The SOP replaces earlier SOPs, including one of 7 September 2026. It does not give a helpline number, so we have not printed one. Last checked 1 October 2026.
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.
