Border control at Pakistan airports: what happens to travellers and their data

Arriving: the steps at the border

Foreign travellers need a visa before travel. Some can get a visa on arrival instead. The online visa portal tells applicants to plan travel only after they receive a valid visa ¹.

At the airport, FIA immigration officers check passports and visas. The FIA's Integrated Border Management System (IBMS) records all incoming and outgoing international travellers under the FIA Act 1974 and the Foreigners Registration Act 1964 ⁴. At its launch in August 2023, the Interior Ministry said the system verifies passports and Pakistani visas, reads documents by optical character recognition and checks data against a real-time database ⁵.

Entry permission: online visas, fee waivers and visa on arrival

The Pakistan Online Visa System was open to citizens of 175 countries when checked on 19 October 2026. It offers visit, business, student, official and work visas. Citizens of 50 countries can apply for a visa on arrival as tourists, and citizens of 95 countries as business visitors ¹.

On 24 July 2024 the federal cabinet waived visa processing fees for citizens of 126 countries and approved an online system for business and tourist visas, with decisions expected within one day. Dawn reported that an electronic travel authorisation is part of the system ².

The government formally launched the policy on 13 August 2024. Applicants fill in a standard form of 30 questions to obtain a 90-day visa, and residents of Gulf countries can get a visa on arrival by showing their passport ³. The Interior Ministry and the Foreign Office run the policy ².

Biometrics and e-gates

Pakistan has announced e-gates several times. In July 2024 the cabinet said e-gates would go to Gwadar Port and nine airports, starting with Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi ². In September 2023 ARY News reported that the Civil Aviation Authority had started the first phase of an e-gate project at those three airports ⁸.

On 21 July 2025 Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi set out a plan for biometric self-service e-gates at Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi for travellers with e-passports. The Pakistan Airports Authority leads the project, with technical support from the German firm M2P Consulting. No completion date was given ⁶.

On 23 April 2026 Profit reported a plan for one-window airport clearance with shared scanners and phased biometric e-gates using face recognition and passport scans, starting at Islamabad. The gates would link to FIA databases, including exit control lists, passenger records and Interpol systems. The report named no contractor and described the plan as agreed but not launched ⁷.

In September 2023 the Australian Federal Police gave FIA Immigration 17 pieces of document examination equipment at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport, including magnifiers, ultraviolet lights and a laminate verifier ⁸.

Passenger data: API and PNR

On 20 and 21 March 2023 Pakistan Customs hosted a national consultation on Advance Passenger Information (API) and Passenger Name Record (PNR) systems at the Federal Board of Revenue, with UNODC and the UN Countering Terrorist Travel Programme ⁹.

Participants reviewed Pakistan's existing API and PNR set-up and discussed the national laws needed to give a legal basis for collecting, processing and protecting passenger data. The UN page implies that a fully operational system was not yet in place at that time ⁹.

The FIA's IBMS holds arrival and departure records on more than 206 million travellers since 2003. It took over the database of PISCES, an earlier system built with partial US government help between 2002 and 2010 ⁴. The sources reviewed did not state which agency receives airline API and PNR data as of 19 October 2026, or how long it is kept.

Watch lists and checks

The FIA page lists stop-list and stop-list hit repositories within IBMS. It says the system supports law enforcement and intelligence agencies against terrorism, trafficking and overstays, and is linked to the Financial Monitoring Unit ⁴. IBMS links with NADRA, the Directorate of Passport and Immigration, the Federal Board of Revenue and the police ⁵.

The planned e-gates would check travellers against exit control lists, passenger records and Interpol systems in real time. Profit reported that more than 1,200 human smuggling attempts were stopped at airports in 2025 ⁷. In July 2025 the Interior Minister ordered the FIA to crack down on visa fraud networks ⁶.

Your data: no general law yet

As of a February 2025 legal guide, Pakistan had no specific data protection law. The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023, prepared by the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications, had cabinet approval and was waiting for the National Assembly and Senate ¹⁰.

The bill would create a National Commission for Personal Data Protection. Until then the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 is the main law cited. It criminalises unauthorised access to data and unauthorised use of another person's identity information ¹⁰.

The sources reviewed did not describe a route for travellers to request their FIA border records. The Pakistan Customs consultation in 2023 discussed passenger data protection in line with human rights standards ⁹.

Who runs the systems

The FIA, under the Interior Ministry, runs immigration and IBMS at 14 airports, 7 land crossings, 4 seaports and 2 railway stations ^4,5. The Interior Ministry and Foreign Office run the visa policy ². Pakistan Customs led the 2023 API and PNR consultation ⁹. The Airports Security Force (ASF) secures airports ¹¹.

The Pakistan Airports Authority leads the e-gate project with technical support from M2P Consulting of Germany (status: proposed, July 2025) ⁶. The FIA page says PISCES, the earlier border system, was built with partial US government help ⁴. The sources reviewed did not name a supplier for IBMS or the online visa system.

Security screening on departure

The Airports Security Force was set up in 1976 under the Airports Security Force Act of 1975 and is an executive department of the Ministry of Defence. It secures 25 operational airports, 12 international and 13 domestic, and protects aircraft, passengers, luggage and mail ¹¹.

The ASF publishes a list of articles barred from aircraft cabins and security restricted areas ¹¹. The April 2026 plan would replace several checkpoints with joint counters and shared baggage and document scanners. Officials expected immigration processing to fall from 3 to 5 minutes to under 45 seconds per passenger ⁷.