Can I get a Pakistan visa online? Yes, you can apply for a Pakistan visa online. In this travel guide, I will explain where and how to apply for a Pakistan tourist visa online.

I’ve already applied for the Pakistan visa online twice. Moreover, I’ve talked to a lot of travelers about the Pakistan e-visa application and that’s why I also know the main concerns regarding this topic. I will refer to all of those concerns in this travel guide.

Since August 2024, Pakistan has simplified the visa application process and grants free visa for citizens of 126 countries.

I will still keep my earlier case studies in the guide just in case in case you are not from one of those countries.

AFTER 14TH AUGUST 2024

I have already received several reports from travelers regarding the Pakistani visa application. Obtaining a Pakistani visa is much easier today than before.

BEFORE 14TH AUGUST 2024

It really depends on who you ask. For some people, it’s really easy and for some people, it can be problematic. On the one hand, it depends on the nationality. On the other hand, we can say, it’s case by case.

For me, as a Hungarian passport holder, it was always super easy, as I always got my Pakistan tourist visa without any issue or question asked.

However, it’s the case for everyone. There are travelers mainly from France or the UK who have to provide documents such as work contracts from their home country or/and answer questions in the framework of a visa application interview. But in the end, they always get their tourist visa granted.

Please, go through this guide to understand how the Pakistani tourist visa works. It includes case studies as well as, a lot of useful tips based on other travelers’ reports including Wandering Emma.

You can apply for the Pakistan tourist online on the website of Nadra which is the National Database & Registration Authority in Pakistan.

Keep reading to make sure that you use the right link to apply for your visa. Don’t rush things!

Below is the official page for providing information about the tourist visa for Pakistan and applying for a Pakistani tourist visa online:

https://visa.nadra.gov.pk/

On this platform, you will find 2 different visa application pages for applying for the Pakistani tourist visa. Visa Prior to Arrival and regular tourist visa.

I’ll explain more about both of them in the next section.

3.1. FREE VISA PRIOR TO ARRIVAL

LINK TO THE VISA PRIOR TO ARRIVAL

Formerly, it was called visa in your inbox.

This is the link for applying for the Visa Prior to Arrival for tourists:

https://visa.nadra.gov.pk/visa-prior-to-arrival/

WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO THE VISA PRIOR TO ARRIVAL

126 countries are on the list including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany, Hungary, Austria, Italy, and Singapore.

Here, you can find the full list:

https://visa.nadra.gov.pk/list-of-countries-for-visa-prior-to-arrival/

If you have found your country on the list, you are eligible to apply for the visa on arrival. In that case, make sure you apply for this one and not the regular tourist eVisa.

THE ADVANTAGES OF THE VISA PRIOR TO ARRIVAL

• Simplified visa application form
• No visa fee
• Immediate Visa Grant Notice
• Multiple entries for 90 days

Visa Prior to Arrival doesn’t mean that you can travel to Pakistan and get a visa on arrival on arrival in Pakistan.

You actually have to apply for the visa on arrival in advance. Upon submitting your application, you get an Visa Grant Notice in about 1 – 10 minutes in your mailbox.

Once you have the Visa Grant Notice, you are authorized to travel to Pakistan and seek a visa upon arrival in Pakistan. The Visa Grant Notice is valid for 90 days. That means if the submission day of your ETA is 22. September 2024, your ETA is valid until 21. December 2024.

Upon arrival in Pakistan, just present your Visa Grant Notice and you will receive your Visa on Arrival printed from the officials on the spot. This visa on arrival looks like my regular tourist visa that I got per email.

You might wonder what you need to pick up your visa on arrival. Don’t worry about it! You only need your passport and your Electronic Travel Authorization on your phone. But if you have the chance to print it out, you can do that too.

3.2. VISA-FREE ENTRY

Passport holders from the countries listed below are eligible for visa-free entry to Pakistan. They can stay for up to 90 days, whether for business or tourism.

• Bahrain
• Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
• Kuwait
• Oman
• Qatar
• UAE

3.3. REGULAR TOURIST eVISA

The other one is the regular tourist e-visa: https://visa.nadra.gov.pk/tourist-visa/

This is where you can check if your nationality is eligible for applying for a regular tourist visa for Pakistan.

https://visa.nadra.gov.pk/electronic-travel-authorization-eta/

192 countries are on the list. I’m not sure if this list is properly updated.

I applied through this link for my Pakistani visa in September and October 2023 because as a Hungarian passport holder, I was not eligible for the Visa Prior to Arrival (formerly known as Visa in your inbox).

You can see my Pakistan tourist visa below. I always printed it for the border crossing and it was always very convenient to have it printed. You should also print it out.

How much is the Pakistan visa fee?

This is where you can check how much your visa will cost:

https://visa.nadra.gov.pk/fee-structure/

Make sure you select the correct visa category.

In the past, the multi-entry tourist visa to Pakistan was rarely granted.

As of now, if you are in the 126 countries eligible for the free visa, you can straight away apply for a multi-entry visa.

Below you can read my earlier experiences. It’s only relevant for those who are still not eligible for a Visa Prior to Arrival. 

But I have friends who got it. For example, my French passport-holder friend who applied for a regular tourist visa, and my Danish passport-holder friend who applied for a visa on arrival were recently granted a multi-entry visa.

I applied for a multi-entry regular tourist visa with my Hungarian passport. However, I only got a single entry visa.

I didn’t care because it was not a huge loss. I lost 17 USD which is the difference between the multi-entry and single-entry visa fees and I had to apply again for a visa for my next visit to Pakistan.

If you want to try to obtain a multi-entry visa, just try it but don’t be surprised if you only get a single-entry visa. In case, you want to travel to Afghanistan for a short time and then go back to Pakistan, try to reapply as soon as you leave Pakistan.

When you start your Pakistan e-visa application, click on the Pak visa. The rest is obvious.

I will not go through every single point but I will go through the parts that are not necessarily obvious and the points at which I know travelers always have questions.

APPLICATION INFORMATION

As for the first lines, you can copy what I have on the screen. This is for a single-entry application.

Are you considering applying for a multi-entry visa? You can try it. However, I don’t recommend it because I know that travelers are rarely granted a multi-entry visa for Pakistan.

I also tried it. I applied for a multi-entry visa and I just got a single-entry visa for the fee of the multi-entry visa.

Please select your country where you would like to be interviewed (if applicable) / Country of passport (In case of extension)

This is a quite ridiculous part. When I applied for my Pakistan visa for the first time, I was in Nepal and a couple of days later I was already supposed to be in India. So, I just added my home country. I recommend the same if you are traveling.

When I applied for my Pakistan visa for the second time, I was in Afghanistan. I just kept my home country for the interview. I literally just didn’t care about the interview.

I was never interviewed.  If they want to interview you and you are constantly traveling, ask for an interview on the phone.

What will be your port of entry and departure?

Below is an example of coming from Amritsar (India) and leaving Pakistan for Afghanistan through the Torkham Border.

I know Hungarian passport holders who entered with the above-mentioned entry point and exit point, had no issues. I also used Torkham, the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, as my entry point for my second visa and had no issues.

But Wandering Emma mentioned to me that a British friend of hers was questioned about adding Afghanistan as her entry point. I think even if you are questioned because of that, just tell them that you are traveling in both Pakistan and Afghanistan as a tourist. The Pakistan-Afghanistan border is becoming more and more popular among international travelers. Thus, there should be less and less concerns about it by the authorities.

PERSONAL INFORMATION

This part is pretty straightforward. It doesn’t need much explanation. Just honestly answer all the questions.

FAMILY INFORMATION

I added my mother and father. I only filled in the boxes with the asterisk.

FINANCES & EMPLOYMENT

As I’m a travel blogger, I just ticked Self Employed.

TRAVEL HISTORY

You are supposed to add your travel history for the past 3 years. Did I do it? NO WAY. That would be ridiculous. I had no time for that.

In my first Pakistan visa application, I just added the last 3 countries I traveled to: Indonesia, Malaysia, and Nepal.

In the following screenshot, you can see my second Pakistan visa application. When you apply for the second time, your data is already saved, so I just added my travels to India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

If I wanted to apply for a Pakistani tourist visa for the third time, I would just keep adding the next countries. I just added Saudi Arabia to show you how I would continue this section.

VISIT INFORMATION

Azad Jammu and Kashmir Visit

Do you intend to visit Azad Jammu and Kashmir during your stay in Pakistan?

This is another interesting question. It doesn’t matter whether you are going there or not, just tick no.
That’s the advice I got from foreigners who have been there.

Stay Details

Just book a hotel for a couple of nights so that you can fill in this section properly.

When I applied for the first time, I made a booking at Rose Palace Hotel Gulberg in Lahore. The hotel was recommended by other backpackers. I highly recommend that you enter the name of this hotel.

I have read an interesting complaint in a Facebook group. A European citizen was asked to send a picture of the hotel owner’s ID card to the visa office. The owner refused to send it to them. Thus, her visa application was rejected. You can be sure this will not happen if you enter the Rose Palace Hotel Gulberg as it’s a trusted hotel.

I actually canceled it after I got my visa as I wanted to use Couchsurfing. But as my Couchsurfing host was weird, so I left my Couchsurfing host’s place and I stayed in this hotel.

If you need a hotel in a good location in Lahore, I can totally recommend this hotel.

Sponsor Information

For the first application, I ticked no for everything. I had no sponsor, no itinerary, nothing.

DOCUMENTS / PHOTOGRAPH

You have to upload 3 items here:

1. Letter By Sponsor / Hotel – Letter By Operator (recog. By Dept. Of Tourist Services)
2. Passport
3. Photograph

Let me explain the first one. The point is that it’s enough to upload the screenshot of your hotel booking here. That’s all.

It might be that certain nationalities need that letter of invitation but most nationalities including EU citizens surely don’t need it.

When I applied for the second time for my Pakistani visa, my Couchsurfing host in Peshawar sent me a letter of invitation. I wanted to see if  I get the visa quicker if I have it. But it made no difference.

If they come back to you asking for an invitation letter or an itinerary, tell them the following:

I will travel in Pakistan independently without a tour operator or tour guide just like dozens of other tourists. Therefore, I don’t have a letter of invitation. 

If you want to create an itinerary but you don’t have time to plan, you can just create a random itinerary adding a couple of places to it.

Feel free to use the map that I created with the places that I want to visit in Pakistan. Check it, here.

VISA PRIOR TO ARRIVAL

It can take 1-10 minutes. A Hungarian friend of mine just applied for the Visa Prior to Arrival and got his visa in 10 minutes.

REGULAR EVISA

How long does the regular Pakistan e-visa take if you are not in the 126 countries eligible for the Visa Prior to Arrival?

Entry (Up to 3 Months): 7-10 days (Working Days)

Extension (Up to 6 Months): 7-10 days (Working Days)

Extension (Greater than 6 Months): 4 Weeks (Working days)

There are two major issues that can happen when you want to apply for your Pakistan tourist visa online.

When I applied for my first Pakistan visa in Nepal, I used Google Chrome on my laptop and I could easily pay and submit my visa application.

However, when I applied for my visa in Afghanistan, I had issues. Let me share them with you so that you know what to do when it happens to you.

8.1. SORRY YOU HAVE BEEN BLOCKED, YOU ARE UNABLE TO ACCESS NADRA.GOV.PK

When I tried to access the visa application portal the same way as before on my laptop using Google Chrome, I got this error message.

I quickly checked it on my IPhone both on Google Chrome and Safari. It didn’t work there either. I switched on my Premium Express VPN service. Then, it worked either on Safari or Google Chrome. I can’t remember which one I used in the end.

This issue can happen to you as well in Afghanistan or in India.

So what should you do if the same happens to you?

• Check all the browsers you have available.
• If none of them works, use a free VPN and test NADRA in different browsers.
• If the free VPN doesn’t work, use a premium VPN service and test NADRA in different browsers.

8.2. PAYMENT ISSUE

At the end of the application, I wanted to pay using my German ING Diba Visa bank account. I tried it a couple of times and it didn’t work. Then, I tried it with my German N26 Master card account. That worked.

My N26 bank account saved me many times when my ING Diba Visa bank account didn’t work. That’s why I like to recommend opening an N26 bank account.

If you want to open an N26 Bank Account, please use this link. I use a Master Card from N26 so that I have both a Visa and Master Card as payment options.

I want to tell you about my two Pakistan visa applications and one of my friends’ story. Both of us had a completely different experience with the online visa application for Pakistan.

WHICH LINK DID I USE?

I used the following link: https://visa.nadra.gov.pk/tourist-visa/

HOW LINK DID IT TAKE TO GET THE eVISA?

This time, the visa processing time was 9 working days. I applied for my visa on 19th August and I got it on 27th August.

They didn’t ask anything from me after I submitted the visa application. They just sent me the visa approval 9 days after I had submitted the application.

DID I NEED A LETTER OF INVITATION FOR MY PAKISTAN eVISA APPLICATION?

Let me just confirm it. No, I didn’t need it.

DID I NEED TO ATTACH ANYTHING TO MY PAKISTAN eVISA APPLICATION?

Yes, I attached a screenshot of my 2-night hotel booking in Lahore.

DID MY PAKISTAN eVISA APPLICATION GO SMOOTHLY?

Yes, but only one bad thing bad thing happened to me. As I mentioned earlier, I applied for a double-entry visa. But they gave me only a single-entry visa instead of the multi-entry visa I paid for.

DID I NEED TO ATTACH MY ITINERARY TO MY PAKISTAN eVISA APPLICATION?

No, as I had zero time to plan my Pakistan trip. I only created a map with the places I wanted to visit in Pakistan. So, I sent an email through the visa application website. I don’t know if they ever read my message or paid attention to what I wrote.

But this is what I wrote:

To Whom It May Concern,

This is my visa application id: XXXXXXXXXX

Would you please let me know the status of my visa?

I need to know in order to plan my international travels.

I’m flying to Amritsar on 25th August just to cross the Wagah border and visit Pakistan. I already made my hotel booking for myself in Lahore as my plan is to cross the Wagah border on 30th August. The hotel booking was sent to you through the visa application form.

I’m not going to travel with a tour operator. I will travel independently as many travelers have already done it in Pakistan. During my stay in Pakistan, I’ll stay in hotels and guesthouses.

This is the link to my Pakistan trip plan: here.

I’m a travel blogger and I want to visit the most beautiful places in Pakistan, take pictures, and write about them.
My passion is to write about the less visited places in the world. I have done the same for other countries and you can check so that you also understand my intention better:

https://www.theglobetrottingdetective.com/beautiful-places-in-saudi-arabia/
https://www.theglobetrottingdetective.com/most-beautiful-places-in-iran-itinerary/

I’m planning on traveling to Pakistan for an extended time to find the most beautiful places. As there are many beautiful places in Pakistan, I would like to stay at least 2 months in total as many travelers do.

During my trip, I would also like to visit Afghanistan shortly like many other travelers do. Therefore, I applied for a multi-entry visa.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Kind regards,
Diana Lesko

When I applied for the second time for my Pakistan visa online, I was in Afghanistan. I needed to be connected to my VPN to be able to open the visa application website.

When you apply for the second time, you already have your date in the system saved. Thus, you don’t have to fill in the application form again.

During this application, I had a lot of technical issues including payment issues. I talked about that in detail in a previous section. Read it if you missed it.

If you remember the first time, I applied without an invitation letter and I got my visa in 9 days. For the second time, my Couchsurfing host in Peshawar sent me a letter of invitation.

I applied for my second visa on the 13th of September and my visa was granted on the 19th of September. That’s 7 days of processing time.

This means that for the second time, I got my visa 2 days quicker than for the first time. I don’t think that I got my visa quicker because I had the invitation letter. I think I got it quicker because it was already my second visa application.

My friend, Natalia, applied for the same kind of regular tourist eVisa as I did.

She used this link:
https://visa.nadra.gov.pk/tourist-visa/

Nevertheless, her story with the visa application is different than mine.

She should have probably applied for the visa on arrival. If you are eligible for the visa on arrival, you had better apply for that one and not the regular tourist visa.

She needed 2 weeks to get her eVisa. On top of that, she needed to provide a lot of documents which mostly she didn’t have and she was supposed to have a personal interview in Paris.

This is exactly what she was requested to provide:

“KINDLY PROVIDE US THE ATTESTATION OF YOUR EMPLOYMENT IN FRANCE AND ALSO A LETTER OF A TOUR OPERATOR ALONG WITH PAKISTANI PASSPORT / NIC AND ALOS YOUR ITINERARY ON THE DAILY BASIS FOR YOUR TRIP.”

She pushed for an interview on the phone as she was traveling. In the phone call, she explained that she was going to travel independently and therefore she had no letter of invitation from any tour operator. Also, she roughly told them about her itinerary.

After the telephone interview, she got her eVisa without ever providing an invitation letter.

So, if you can apply for your Pakistan eVisa at least 2 weeks in advance, do so. If it doesn’t go quickly, don’t stress. It just takes some time for some people but you will get it in the end.

Since then, a lot of travelers with a French passport contacted me. They all had the same story.

My Greek friend applied for the visa on arrival.

She used this link:
https://visa.nadra.gov.pk/visa-on-arrival-tourist/

She also sent an email to the visa office just like I did including my map that I created with my favorite places in Pakistan.

After submitting her application, he got an email from the visa office with the following request: KINDLY PROVIDE BY NAME HOTEL BOOKINGS FOR YOUR VISIT TO DIFFERENT CITIES OF PAKISTAN TO PROCEED FURTHER.

I advised her to make 3 hotel bookings in 3 major cities in Pakistan. This meant 3 bookings for 3 weeks. Each booking was for only 1 week. She got the Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) as soon as she submitted the screenshot of the hotel bookings.

Emma Wandering has been to Pakistan about 8 times. I would like to talk about her most recent Pakistan visa applications.

She has always used her British passport for the Pakistan online visa application.

As a British passport holder, she is eligible for the visa on arrival, formerly known as visa in your inbox. Thus, that’s what she applied for. Link here.

She applied for a single-entry visa. We already talked about whether we should apply for a single-entry or a multi-entry visa to Pakistan.

Emma keeps applying for a single-entry visa instead of a multi-entry visa which would be valid now for a year because the single-entry visa comes right away and these days it seems that the Pakistani authorities don’t like to grant a multi-entry tourist visa anymore.

It’s also important to note that she applied without a letter of invitation. She only attached the screenshot of a hotel booking for 1 night to her application.

As soon as her payment went through, she received an email with Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) that you need to get the visa on arrival upon arrival in Pakistan.

I applied for my Pakistan visa online without a Letter of Invitation (LoI). But in case, you need it, let me tell you a few things about it.

Ask me if you need a recommendation.

Requirement for Letter of Invitation (LoI)

1: Scanned Passport or Readable Picture of Passport
2: Arrival & Departure Date (Estimated)
3: Name of cities you will visit
4: contact number
5: Email ID
6: Please provide a booking of one/two nights in any city (Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad)

You can book online through booking.com

Do you Need a Letter of Invitation?

You can arrange a Pakistan letter of invitation here!