Guide
We married abroad.
Does it count in Pakistan?
A nikah performed abroad is a real marriage. The question is whether Pakistan has a record of it, because without that record the family registration, the children’s papers and a later divorce all run into a wall. This page shows what has to be done and in what order.
Where this applies This page covers a marriage performed outside Pakistan between people of whom at least one is Pakistani. What the country where you married requires is that country’s business. This page is about the Pakistani side only.
What this is about
Pakistan does not know about your marriage until someone tells it, with papers. The marriage certificate from where you married has to be attested so that a Pakistani office will accept it, and the marriage then has to be entered where Pakistani marriages are recorded. Only after that can the family record be updated and a marriage certificate be issued from Pakistan.
The common problem is a couple who never did this, and who find out when a child’s papers are refused, when a spouse applies for a visa, or when the marriage ends and no Pakistani office has anything to end.
What has to be in place
What has to be in place.
The marriage certificate from where you married, in its original form.
That certificate attested in the chain a Pakistani office will accept.
Someone in Pakistan who can present it and follow it: the spouse who is there, or an advocate with a power of attorney.
Note Your advocate confirms which of these apply to your case.
The documents you will be asked for
The papers asked for.
- The original marriage certificate, and a translation where it is not in English or Urdu.
- Identity documents of both spouses.
- The attestations, in order, on the certificate.
- The power of attorney, if someone acts for you.
How an advocate helps from where you are
What an advocate does.
- Tells you the exact chain of attestation for your certificate, so that nothing is stamped twice or in the wrong order.
- Has the marriage entered on record in Pakistan and the family record updated.
- Obtains the Pakistani certificate and gets it attested for use where you live.
What to ask before you agree
- What is the exact chain of attestation for our certificate?
- Who in Pakistan will present it, and what does that person need from us?
- Once it is on record, what certificate do we get, and will it be attested for use here?
- What do you need from me, and by when?
- What is your fee, and what is not included in it?
More in Ending a marriage
Not sure which one? Start hereEnding a marriage
My husband has said talaqEnding a marriage
I want to end my marriageEnding a marriage
Also relevant
Words you will meet
- attestation
- The stamps that make a foreign paper acceptable to a Pakistani office.
- family record
- The NADRA record of who is in a family. A marriage has to be on it.
- nikah nama
- The Pakistani marriage document, issued once the marriage is on record.
Sources
Official pages read on 11 September 2026. The page says only what these say, and what an advocate does; nothing specific to your case.
Checked
11 September 2026
Pakistan. Sources listed at the end of the page.