How a Foreign National Gets a Work Visa in Pakistan
Pakistan issues two work visa types for foreigners: a 3 month Entry visa and a 2 year Extension that needs security clearance. Here is the real process.
A foreign national who wants to work in Pakistan does not get one visa. They get two, one after the other, and the second one is where the real process sits. The first is quick. The second asks a security agency to sign off, and that part cannot be rushed through.
We read this directly on dgip.gov.pk, the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports' own site, and on invest.gov.pk, the Board of Investment's own page, on 5 October 2026.
Two categories cover the whole process
Pakistan's e-visa system splits a foreign employee's visa into an Entry Work Visa for someone applying for the first time, and a Work Visa Extension for someone already in Pakistan on that entry visa. They are not the same application filed twice.
Getting the category wrong at the start wastes the one thing that matters most here, time, because the two tracks ask for different clearances and go to different offices.
The Entry visa covers the first three months only
The Entry Work Visa is issued by Pakistan's missions abroad, is valid for up to three months on a single entry, and dgip.gov.pk states a processing time of 48 hours. It does not require security clearance at this stage.
| Point | Entry visa | Extension visa |
|---|---|---|
| Validity | Up to 3 months, single entry | Up to 2 years, multiple entries |
| Security clearance | Not required | Mandatory |
| Processing time stated | 48 hours (dgip.gov.pk) | 30 days (dgip.gov.pk) |
| Issuing authority | Pakistan missions abroad | Ministry of Interior |
| BOI involvement | Not required | Letter of recommendation needed |
Invest.gov.pk, the Board of Investment's own page, gives a different figure of four weeks for processing generally, without splitting it by category the way dgip.gov.pk does. We are showing both numbers rather than picking one, since they come from two different government pages and we could not reconcile them further.
The Extension needs security clearance and a BOI recommendation
Once the three month Entry visa is close to running out, the employee applies for an Extension while still in Pakistan. This is where the process actually slows down.
Dgip.gov.pk is specific that the Extension stage requires clearance of security agencies and a Board of Investment letter of recommendation. The Ministry of Interior handles the extension, not the mission abroad that issued the entry visa.
If the security agencies involved do not respond within thirty days, dgip.gov.pk states the case is automatically approved. That rule exists precisely because security vetting has no fixed finish line otherwise, and an applicant cannot be left waiting indefinitely on a file sitting in an unanswered inbox.
Documents the employer needs ready before applying
Both government pages agree on the core paper trail, and most of it sits with the employer, not the foreign employee.
- Passport and a recent photograph of the applicant.
- An employment agreement or letter stating salary and duration of assignment.
- A cover letter on the employing company's letterhead.
- A profile of the Pakistani company, which must itself be SECP registered.
- The applicant's CV.
- For an Extension only, a BOI letter of recommendation.
A business hiring a foreign national from scratch should check its own SECP registration is current before it writes a single employment letter, because an employment letter from an unregistered or lapsed company supports nothing on either application.
Where the rules get vaguer: sector limits and extra clearance
Beyond the Petroleum Companies Clearance named as a separate e-service on invest.gov.pk, we could not find a government page that lists which other sectors face additional NOC requirements, or a published cap on what share of a company's staff can be foreign nationals.
Reports describe informal limits that vary by ministry and sector, but that is reported, not something we read on an official page, so we are not printing a percentage here. A company in a sensitive sector, telecom infrastructure, power generation or anything defence-adjacent, should raise that question with its own ministry before assuming the general process above is the whole story.
What applying actually looks like, start to finish
The employee applies through the NADRA e-visa portal for the Entry visa from outside Pakistan, enters on that three month visa, and the employer begins preparing the BOI recommendation and extension paperwork well before the three months run out.
Invest.gov.pk also notes that an application sent back for review has to be resubmitted within seven days or it is cancelled, and the stated processing clock restarts once it is. That detail matters more than it sounds, because a missed email notification about a review request can cost weeks, not days.
Common questions
Does a foreign employee need security clearance to enter Pakistan for work?
No. The first Entry visa, valid up to three months, does not require security clearance. The Extension that follows it does.
How long does a work visa extension take?
Dgip.gov.pk states 30 days. Invest.gov.pk gives a general figure of 4 weeks for the process. Both are official figures and we have not combined them into one number.
Who issues the Extension visa?
The Ministry of Interior, after security agencies clear the case and the Board of Investment has given its letter of recommendation.
What happens if security agencies never respond?
Dgip.gov.pk states the case is automatically approved if there is no response within thirty days.
Can a foreign employee's family come on the same track?
Reports describe family visas following the same application framework as the employee's own, though we did not find this stated in those exact words on either government page we read.
Does the employing company need to be SECP registered?
Yes. The company profile and employment letter supporting the application assume a registered Pakistani company, per both dgip.gov.pk and invest.gov.pk.
How we verified this
What we checked, where we read it, and what we could not confirm.
Last checked 5 October 2026. We read dgip.gov.pk/visa/categories.php, the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports' own page, for the Entry and Extension categories, their validity, processing times, security clearance requirements, issuing authorities and document lists, including the thirty day automatic approval rule for unanswered security clearance requests. We also read invest.gov.pk/work-visa, the Board of Investment's own page, for the e-visa portal route, the SECP-registered employer requirement, the four week general processing figure, the two year multiple entry duration, the seven day resubmission rule after a review request, and the separate Petroleum Companies Clearance service. The two pages differ on exact processing time, which is stated plainly above rather than resolved by guesswork. Sector-specific NOC requirements beyond petroleum, and any cap on the share of foreign staff a company may employ, are reported elsewhere but were not found stated on either government page we read, so no figure is given for them here. Not immigration or legal advice; confirm current requirements with the Board of Investment or the relevant Pakistani mission before applying.
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.
