Biometrics and identity verification at Pakistan's borders

Who holds identity data

The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) is set up under the National Database and Registration Authority Ordinance, 2000 ¹. Section 7 of the Ordinance lists its functions, including a central database of citizens called the Citizen Database and a National Data Warehouse ¹.

Passports are issued by the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports (DGI&P) under the Ministry of Interior ⁴. Immigration checks at airports and land crossings are done by the Immigration Wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) ³.

How the FIA verifies travellers

ARY News reported on 9 August 2023 that the Interior Minister inaugurated the FIA's Integrated Border Management System at FIA headquarters in Islamabad ². The report said the system verifies passports and Pakistani visas at immigration checkpoints and airports, reads documents through optical character recognition, and checks data against a real-time database linked to NADRA, the passport directorate, the FBR, the police and other agencies ².

The FIA's Annual Administration Report 2025 says an e-passport data feed is connected to IBMS ³. It says biometric capture of foreign nationals at entry points is mandatory ³. The report does not give the date this rule began or cite its legal basis ³.

On 3 December 2025 Dawn reported that the Interior Minister inspected a system at Lahore airport immigration counters that links passengers' travel history with their national identity cards and passports ⁹.

The e-passport

The DGI&P says the e-passport chip holds data that verifies the holder's identity, including biometric data and a digital signature ⁴. It says the e-passport complies with ICAO standards ⁴.

The DGI&P records that the e-passport was inaugurated on 30 March 2022 in Islamabad ⁵. Issuance began as a soft launch for diplomatic and official passports, and since 16 August 2023 it is issued from all field offices ⁴. The DGI&P page says foreign missions will get the facility later, with no date given ⁴. The page was last modified on 23 October 2026 ⁴.

E-gates: plans and pilots

On 5 September 2023 ARY News reported that the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority decided to install e-gates, starting at Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, and would seek tenders after board approval ⁶. The report said the gates would use facial, fingerprint or iris recognition ⁶.

On 25 June 2025 Gulf News reported that the Pakistan Airports Authority had completed the design phase of an e-gate project for the same three airports, with technical specifications and tender documents to follow ⁷. The project was expected to take 24 months ⁷.

The FIA's report for 2025 lists e-gates integrated with IBMS at the Torkham border crossing and says e-gates were piloted at selected border crossing points ³. On 23 April 2026 Profit reported a plan to introduce biometric e-gates with facial recognition in phases, starting at Islamabad International Airport ⁸. As of these sources, no airport e-gate was reported as operating ^7,8.

International standard

UN Security Council Resolution 2396 (2017) decided that member states shall develop and implement systems to collect biometric data, which may include fingerprints, photographs and facial recognition, in compliance with domestic law and international human rights law ¹⁰.