National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has made the Proof of Life Certificate (PoLC) completely free of charge for pensioners and has enabled access through PakID, NADRA Registration Centers, Union Councils, e-Sahulat franchises and NADRA’s mobile service channels across the country.
The initiative, undertaken in line with the special directions of Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and in coordination with the Ministry of Interior and Narcotics Control, Ministry of Defense, Controller General of Accounts (CGA) and Military Accountant General (MAG), is designed particularly to ease the difficulties faced by elderly, bedridden and differently-abled pensioners and others who find it difficult to visit banks or pension offices for periodic proof-of-life requirements.
The easiest option is through the PakID mobile application, where eligible pensioners can obtain their PoLC digitally from home. A pensioner who is unable to use PakID personally can also have the certificate obtained by an immediate family member through the family member’s own PakID account, subject to the prescribed identity verification process.
For pensioners who prefer an assisted service, the certificate is also available free of charge at more than 5,000 e-Sahulat franchises across Pakistan.
Pensioners can also obtain the service at over 988 NADRA Registration Centers and 500 Union Councils, where they are being provided preferential service without having to wait in the regular queue.
For pensioners who cannot conveniently reach a service point, the same facility is also available through NADRA’s Mobile Registration Vans, biker services and man-pack registration services, extending PoLC to citizens with limited mobility or access.
The PoLC service is part of a wider reform under which NADRA has established a National Pensioners Register. In Phase I, pensioners administered by the CGA and MAG have been brought onto the register, providing an authenticated digital reference for pensioner identity and life-status verification.
The register is also designed to keep pension authorities informed of relevant changes without requiring pensioners or their families to repeatedly report the same event to different organizations. NADRA now provides daily digital intimation to the concerned pension controllers where the death of a primary or secondary pensioner is reported through the Death Notification Tool by a health facility or registered through the Civil Registration Management System (CRMS).
Similarly, changes affecting the entitlement of secondary or family pensioners, including applicable age and marital-status conditions, are communicated to the relevant pension controllers on a daily basis where such changes are reflected in NADRA’s registration records. Decisions regarding continuation, alteration or cessation of pension remain with the competent pension authority under the applicable rules.
A separate verification service has also been made available to banks, allowing authorized banks to check a pensioner’s proof-of-life status directly from the National Pensioners Register. This provides a digital verification channel for pension disbursement and reduces dependence on repeated physical or paper-based verification.
In the next phase, the National Pensioners Register is planned to be expanded to pensioners of other federal and provincial government organizations, public-sector bodies and private institutions after the necessary agreements and institutional arrangements are concluded with the organizations concerned.
The combined system is intended to make proof-of-life requirements easier for pensioners while enabling pension controllers and banks to work with more current and verified information.
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