The National Database and Registration Authority has made the Proof of Life Certificate free for pensioners, while expanding access to the document through multiple channels nationwide, including the PakID mobile app, registration centres, union councils, and e-Sahulat franchises.
The initiative, launched Friday, was undertaken on the special directives of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in coordination with the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defence, Controller General of Accounts, and Military Accountant General. A Proof of Life Certificate is an official document verifying that a pensioner is alive.
According to Nadra, the simplest route is through the PakID mobile application, which allows eligible pensioners to obtain the certificate digitally from home. An immediate family member can also secure the certificate on a pensioner’s behalf through their own PakID account, subject to the required identity verification process.
For those who prefer assisted service, the certificate is available free of charge at more than 5,000 e-Sahulat franchises, as well as at over 988 Nadra Registration Centres and 500 union councils, where pensioners receive preferential service without having to wait in the regular queue. For those unable to reach a service point altogether, Nadra said the facility is also accessible through mobile registration vans, biker services, and ManPack registration services, designed for citizens with limited mobility or access.
The Proof of Life Certificate service forms part of a broader reform under which Nadra has established a National Pensioners Register. In its first phase, pensioners administered by the CGA and MAG have been added to the register, providing an authenticated digital reference for identity and life-status verification.
Nadra said it will now provide daily digital notifications to relevant pension controllers in the event of a primary or secondary pensioner’s death, whether reported through the Death Notification Tool by a health facility or registered via the Civil Registration Management System. Similarly, changes affecting the entitlement of secondary or family pensioners, including age and marital status, will be communicated daily to pension controllers wherever such changes appear in Nadra’s records. Decisions on the continuation, alteration, or cessation of a pension will remain with the relevant pension authority under applicable rules.
A separate verification service has also been made available to banks, allowing authorised institutions to check a pensioner’s proof-of-life status directly through the National Pensioners Register. Nadra said this would create a digital channel for pension disbursement and reduce reliance on repeated physical or paper-based verification.
PAKISTAN-NADRA-PENSIONERS-CERTIFICATE
rephrase fully
Pensioners No Longer Have to Pay to Prove They’re Alive, Nadra Says
Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority has scrapped the fee for pensioners’ Proof of Life Certificates and widened the ways people can obtain one, adding options through the PakID mobile app, registration centres, union councils, and thousands of e-Sahulat outlets around the country.
The change took effect Friday, launched at the direction of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and coordinated with the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defence, the Controller General of Accounts, and the Military Accountant General. The certificate itself is a simple but essential document: official confirmation that a pensioner is still alive, required to keep pension payments flowing.
For most people, Nadra says the easiest path is through the PakID app, which lets eligible pensioners generate the certificate digitally without leaving home. Family members can also request it on a pensioner’s behalf through their own PakID account, once identity checks are completed.
Those who’d rather have someone walk them through the process can now do so at no cost at more than 5,000 e-Sahulat franchises nationwide, or at any of the 988-plus Nadra Registration Centres and 500 union councils, where pensioners skip the regular line entirely. And for pensioners who can’t make it to a service point at all, whether due to age, illness, or distance, Nadra has extended the service to mobile registration vans, motorbike-based teams, and its ManPack units built specifically for citizens with limited mobility.
The fee waiver is one piece of a larger overhaul: Nadra’s newly created National Pensioners Register. Its first phase folds in pensioners under the CGA and MAG systems, giving authorities a verified digital record they can check for identity and life status instead of relying on paperwork.
Going forward, Nadra will notify the relevant pension authorities daily whenever a primary or secondary pensioner’s death is recorded, whether flagged by a hospital through the Death Notification Tool or registered via the Civil Registration Management System. The same daily updates will apply to changes that affect a family pensioner’s eligibility, shifts in age or marital status, for instance, whenever those details change in Nadra’s records. The actual decision on whether a pension continues, changes, or ends still rests with the relevant pension authority, governed by existing rules.
Banks have been brought into the system too. Authorised banks can now check a pensioner’s proof-of-life status directly against the National Pensioners Register, a shift Nadra says will streamline pension disbursement and cut down on repeated in-person or paper verification.
