NADRA Digital Power of Attorney: How Overseas Pakistanis Apply Online (2026 Guide)

NADRA

Last Updated: October 2026

NADRA runs a Digital Power of Attorney portal with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at poa.nadra.gov.pk. An overseas Pakistani uploads a signed scan of a power of attorney, gives fingerprints on paper forms, pays USD 36 for up to five executors and is interviewed by video by a consular officer, so there is no appointment at the embassy. The portal does not write the document, and the fee is not refunded if the application is rejected. After approval you post the original, with a printed receipt, to your attorney in Pakistan, who takes it to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for attestation before using it.

NADRA’s Projects page says it developed the process in 2021 and lists 11,052 applications processed in total, 3,762 of them in 2024 and 3,758 in 2025. This guide follows the portal’s own pages and user manual, adds what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says about the attorney’s side in Pakistan, and notes where the official pages disagree or say nothing. We did not create an account or start an application.

What the portal does, and what it does not

The portal does	The portal does not
Takes your application, a scan of your signed power of attorney and your supporting documents.	Write a power of attorney. NADRA’s FAQ says the system does not generate one, so you supply your own signed original.
Generates a fingerprint form for each executor and witness, pre-filled with their details, and has NADRA check the scans.	Accept a fingerprint form from anywhere else. The forms are produced inside your application.
Takes the fee by Visa or Mastercard card.	Refund it. NADRA’s FAQ says the fee pays for processing and does not guarantee acceptance.
Lets a consular officer of a Pakistani mission interview you by video and decide the case.	Decide the case itself. The mission’s officer approves or rejects it.
Produces a receipt once every executor has given final consent.	Attest the document in Pakistan. Your attorney does that at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Who can use it

NADRA’s portal sets four conditions.

• The executor, the person giving the power, must be an overseas Pakistani with a valid NICOP, CNIC or POC. If your NICOP has expired, renew it first, because the portal asks for a valid document.
• Two witnesses of Pakistani nationality, each with a valid CNIC, NICOP or POC.
• An attorney who lives in Pakistan and holds a CNIC, NICOP or POC.
• A mission to handle it. You choose it in the application. If your country has no Pakistani mission, NADRA says the nearest one deals with the application, and its example is Estonia.

A foreigner who holds no Pakistani identity document cannot use the portal alone. NADRA says they must visit a Pakistani mission in person after having their documents attested by their own country’s foreign ministry or State Department.

What you need before you start

• A valid email address for every executor. Each executor gives final consent individually, so NADRA requires every one of them to have an address.
• A contact number and a mailing address in the country you apply from.
• Details of each executor: passport number, name as in the passport, father’s name, spouse’s name, mobile number, address abroad and a photograph that follows the portal’s guidelines.
• Details of the attorney: citizen number, passport number, father’s name and citizen number, mobile number, and the province, district, tehsil and address in Pakistan.
• Details of each witness: name, citizen number, father’s name, mobile number, email address and a photograph.
• Your signed original power of attorney, scanned. It must carry the signatures and thumb impressions of the executors and the witnesses, with the executor’s photograph pasted on it. NADRA says unsigned copies are rejected.
• Front and back scans of the CNIC, NICOP or POC of every executor, witness and the attorney, plus any affidavit your document needs. NADRA’s manual says it is the executor’s job to find out what other documents a given power of attorney requires, and that the consular officer can reject an application with a mandatory document missing.
• Fingerprints of each executor and each witness, the best four fingers, on the forms the portal generates.
• A Visa or Mastercard credit or debit card.

Step by step

1. Create an account. On the portal choose Apply Now, which takes you to NADRA’s Pak Identity sign-in page at id.nadra.gov.pk/e-id/, and register with a valid email address, a password and the captcha. NADRA sends a verification PIN to that address to activate the account.
2. Start the application. Accept the terms, choose New Application and then Apply for Power of Attorney. Enter your citizen number, your country of stay and the Pakistani mission that should handle the case. The portal then shows the fee and a tracking ID. Add the executors, the attorney and the two witnesses, and upload the scanned power of attorney and the supporting documents.
3. Upload the fingerprints. Download the fingerprint forms the portal generates, one for each executor and each witness. Each person fills in their own form, reads the declarations and signs. Scan the forms and upload each one against the right person. The portal shows how many attempts remain.
4. Pay. Once the fingerprints verify, pay by credit or debit card inside the application.
5. Attend the video interview. The mission emails a date, a link and a PIN. The executors and witnesses join at the set time and answer the consular officer’s questions. The officer decides the case and may email you to upload a missing document.
6. Give final consent. If the officer approves, the system emails every executor, and each must consent within 15 days or the application is rejected. The portal then offers a receipt showing the case ID and the details of the executors, witnesses, attorney and approving officer. Print it.

To check on an application, sign in and open Existing Applications. NADRA’s manual describes a system-generated tracking ID for each application, and a count of remaining attempts beside each fingerprint upload.

The fee

NADRA’s fee page lists USD 36 for up to five executors and USD 6 more for each additional executor, up to twenty.

Executors	Fee (USD)
Up to 5	36
6	42
7	48
8	54
9	60
10	66
20	126

You pay by card inside the application. NADRA’s FAQ says the fee is not refunded if the application is rejected, if an unsigned power of attorney is uploaded or if consent is not given in time. It is separate from what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asks in Pakistan, described below. A mission’s own in-person service is priced locally: the embassy in Copenhagen, for example, lists DKK 200 per person for attesting a power of attorney.

After approval: what your attorney does in Pakistan

The receipt is not the finished document. NADRA’s guide says to post the printed receipt together with the original power of attorney to your attorney. The attorney then goes to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which attests it after the mission confirms it is genuine. The Ministry’s standard operating procedures, dated May 2026, set these terms for a power of attorney from abroad:

• Where. The Consular Services Hall at the Ministry in Islamabad, open Monday to Friday, 8 am to 4 pm, or a Foreign Affairs liaison office in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar or Quetta. The Ministry treats attestation at those offices as equal to its own.
• Who. The attorney, in person, with the original CNIC. The Ministry says a power of attorney cannot go through a courier company.
• Cost. The Ministry says it charges no attestation fee and asks only for prescribed revenue stamps. Its SOP lists a Rs 60 stamp fee for a power of attorney from abroad.
• Time. The Ministry’s promise to attest general documents within two hours excludes powers of attorney.
• Validity. The SOP gives the validity of a power of attorney as 120 days from the date of attestation by the mission abroad and re-attestation or verification by the Ministry. It does not say what happens after that, so do not leave the document waiting.

The Ministry’s notice that apostille requests need online registration from 27 July 2026 is written for apostille. Its SOP lists walk-in service for legal documents such as a power of attorney, so confirm with the office before the attorney travels.

Two other documents that share the name

NADRA’s verification board form. NADRA’s Downloads page has a one-page form called Power of Attorney, dated 4 June 2025, under Others. It is a different document from the overseas power of attorney above. It lets a person who cannot attend NADRA’s verification board name a nominee to represent the case. The reasons it lists are hospitalisation, imprisonment, living abroad and a medical disorder, and it has a space for the signature and stamp of a mission or embassy officer. NADRA’s Registration Policy describes a verification board as a regional or zonal board for cases under verification. NADRA does not say on the form or the Downloads page where it is handed in, so ask the office handling the case. Our guide to blocked CNICs covers where the boards come in.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs specimens. The Ministry’s attestation page links a General Power of Attorney and a Special Power of Attorney. Both are generic blank forms in US legal wording, with terms such as agent, declarant and notary acknowledgment, and the general one mentions a homestead and gift tax returns. They show a layout. They are not a drafted document for a Pakistani transaction. The Special specimen has blanks for the powers granted and for the start and end dates.

Where NADRA’s pages disagree

• Fingerprint attempts. The how-to page says four chances to re-upload, and the user manual says four additional chances, five attempts in all. One FAQ answer also says five attempts, and another says two additional attempts. All of them end the same way: when the attempts run out you visit the mission in person. The how-to page adds that the witnesses must come too, and an FAQ answer says the same application continues there.
• The interview. The how-to page says the applicant and the witnesses must attend. The manual says the witnesses attend if the officer requires it. Have them available.
• Which missions. Older embassy and Ministry pages describe a pilot at a limited number of missions, starting with the USA and UK, with in-person service running in parallel. NADRA’s portal now lists a mission for each country it covers, including countries with no Pakistani mission of their own.
• The manual. The file on the portal is labelled version 1.07 but is a 2022 release inside, and the portal itself shows version 1.5, so some screens may differ.

What we could not confirm

• How long it takes. No official page gives a time for the interview or the decision.
• What your power of attorney must say. The portal checks identities, not wording. Ask a lawyer or the mission what your purpose needs.
• How the Ministry counts the 120 days. Its wording joins two events, the mission’s attestation and its own re-attestation, without saying which one starts the clock.
• A Pakistani passport holder with no NICOP, CNIC or POC. The eligibility list names those three cards. The how-to page’s description of foreigners names the three cards and a Pakistani passport, so it is unclear how a passport-only holder applies.
• The scanning rules. The portal shows on-screen guidelines for scanning fingerprint forms and photographs, behind the sign-in, and we did not open them.

Common mistakes

• Expecting NADRA to draft the power of attorney. The portal only takes your upload.
• Uploading an unsigned copy. NADRA’s FAQ says it is rejected and the fee is not refunded.
• Leaving off the thumb impressions, the witnesses’ signatures or the executor’s photograph. NADRA lists all three as part of the original.
• Choosing the wrong mission. NADRA warns that this can route the application to the wrong mission and lead to rejection.
• Adding a co-executor who has no email address. Every executor must give consent from their own address.
• Missing the 15 days for final consent. The application is rejected and the fee stays with NADRA.
• Posting the original without the receipt, or the receipt without the original. NADRA says to send both.
• Sending the attorney without the original CNIC, or sending a courier. The Ministry wants the attorney in person.
• Leaving the document for months before the attorney visits the Ministry. The Ministry gives it a validity of 120 days.

Sources: the steps, documents, fee, FAQ answers and user manual from NADRA’s Digital Power of Attorney portal (how to apply, required documents, application fee, FAQs and downloads), the process history and application counts from its Projects page, and the verification board form from its Downloads page; the attorney’s steps, the Rs 60 stamp fee and the 120 days from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ attestation page and its SOPs for attestation of documents (May 2026); the 2021 launch date and the pilot from the Embassy of Pakistan in Copenhagen, and the DKK 200 fee from its attestation page. All read on 3 October 2026. NADRA and the Ministry can change these without notice.

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