Pakistani citizenship,
keeping it and giving it up

Children born outside Pakistan

A child born abroad to a Pakistani parent is a Pakistani citizen by descent. That much needs nothing done.

There is a step that catches the second generation. Where the parent is a citizen by descent as well, so born outside Pakistan too, the child has to be registered at the nearest Pakistani consulate or mission.

A child of a Pakistani mother and a foreign father is a Pakistani citizen where the birth was after 18 April 2000.

Being a citizen and holding the card that proves it are two different things. What a child needs in hand, and when, is worth asking about early.

Holding two nationalities

Pakistan has dual nationality arrangements with twenty-two countries. What the arrangement says is that citizens of those countries do not have to give up their own nationality when they take Pakistani citizenship.

Among the countries Pakistanis live in, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Bahrain are on the list.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Spain, Portugal and Greece are not.

Germany sits on the list under a narrower rule. It covers children of Pakistani parents who grew up in Germany and hold German nationality from being born there.

Whether it works the other way round for you, so whether taking the nationality of the country you live in touches your Pakistani citizenship, is a question for your advocate.

Giving Pakistani citizenship up

Renouncing is done on a form called Form X. You can get it from a Pakistani mission, from the directorate in Islamabad, or as a download.

Three things go with it. Your original identity card, copies of your passports, and an assurance letter from the government of the country whose nationality you are taking.

The identity card is handed in and cancelled, and the cancellation receipt goes with the papers. If you do not hold one, you have to show instead on what basis you are a Pakistani citizen.

The application goes for clearance first. After that a renunciation certificate is prepared and sent to the mission you applied through.

Where the papers are complete, the certificate takes about four weeks. Where they are not, it takes longer. You can ask about a case by email three months after applying.

What that does to your children

This is the part that catches people, and it is worth reading twice.

A child under twenty-one cannot renounce on their own. There is no separate application for a child.

When a father renounces, the minor children living with him in that country stop being Pakistani at the same time. Children of his who live in Pakistan are not touched and stay Pakistani.

A mother is treated differently. Children are not named on the certificate issued to her, so they are not listed on her form either.

Only children living with you in the other country go on the form. Children living in Pakistan must not be listed on it.