Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951

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THE PAKISTAN CITIZENSHIP ACT, 1951 
 
 
 
 
 
 
CONTENTS 
1. Short title and commencement 
2. Definitions 
3.  Citizenship at the date of commencement of this Act 
4.  Citizenship by birth 
5.  Citizenship by descent 
6.  Citizenship by migration 
7.  Persons migrating from the territories of Pakistan 
8.  Rights of citizenship of certain persons resident abroad 
9.  Citizenship by naturalisation 
10.  Married women 
11.  Registration of minors 
12.  Citizenship by registration to begin on date of registration 
13.  Citizenship by incorporation of territory 
14.  Dual citizenship or nationality not permitted 
14A.  Renunciation of citizenship 
14B.  Certain persons to be citizens of Pakistan 
15.  Persons becoming citizens to have the status of Commonwealth citizens 
16.  Deprivation of citizenship 
16A.  Certain persons to lose and others to retain citizenship 
 

 
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17.  Certificate of domicile 
18.  Delegation of powers 
19.  Cases of doubt as to citizenship 
20.  Acquisition of Pakistan citizenship by citizens of Commonwealth countries 
21.  Penalties 
22.  Interpretation 
23.  Rules 
SCHEDULE 
 
  
 
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THE PAKISTAN CITIZENSHIP ACT, 1951 
1ACT NO. II of 1951 
[13th April, 1951] 
An Act to provide for Pakistan citizenship 
WHEREAS it is expedient to make provision for citizenship of Pakistan; 
It is hereby enacted as follows:__ 
1. Short title and commencement.__ (1) This Act may be called the Pakistan Citizenship Act, 
1951. 
(2) It shall come into force at once. 
2. Definitions.  In this Act__ 
“alien” means a person who is not a citizen of Pakistan or a Commonwealth citizen; 
“Indo-Pakistan sub-continent” means India as defined in th e Government of India Act, 1935  
(26 Geo.5, c.2.), as originally enacted; 
“minor” means, notwithstanding anything in the Maj ority Act, 1875 (IX of 1875), any  person 
who has not completed the age of twentyone years; 
“prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act; 2[*] 
2[“Commonwealth citizen” means a person who has the status of a Commonweal th citizen 
under the British Nationality Act, 1948 (11 & 12, Geo.6, c.56.) 
“British protected person” means a person who has the status of a British protected person for 
the purposes of the British Nationality Act, 1948 (11 & 12 Geo.c.56).] 
3. Citizenship at the date of commencement of this Act. At the commencement of this Act, 
every person shall be deemed to be a citizen of Pakistan__ 
(a) who or any of whose parents or grandparents was born in the territory now 
included in Pakistan and who after the fourteenth day of August, 1947, has not 
been permanently resident in any country outside Pakistan; or 
(b)  who or any of whose parents or grandparents was born in the territories included 
in India on the thirty first day of March, 1937, 2[and who, except in the case of 
a person who was in the service of Pakistan or of any Government or  
Administration in Pakistan at the commencement of this Act, has] or had his 
 
 
1This Act shall, during the continuance of the Defence of Pakistan Ordinance, 1971 (XXX of 1971), have effect subject to the provision of section 7 (4) 
of that Ordinance. 
It has also been brought into force in Baluchistan with effect on and from the 13th day of April, 1951, see Gazette of Pakistan, 1952, Pt. I, p. 218; applied 
in the Federated Areas of Baluchistan, see ibid., 1953, Pt. I, p. 152; extended to the Leased Areas of Baluchistan by the Leased Areas (Laws) Order, 1950 
(G.G.O. 3 of 1950); extended to the Khairpur State by the Khairpur (Federal Laws) (Extension) Order, 1953 (G.G.O. 5 of 1953);  extended to the  
Baluchistan States Union by the Baluchistan States Union (Federal Laws) (Extension) Order, 1953 (G.G.O. 4 of 1953) ; extended  to the State of 
Bahawalpur by the Bahawalpur (Extension of Federal Laws) Order, 1953 (G.G.O. 11 of 1953), as amended; and also brought in to force in Gwadur with 
effect from the 8th September, 1958, by the Gwadur (Application for Central Laws) Ordinance, 1960 (37 of 1960), s. 2. 
2Omitted and subs. by Act No. V of 1952, ss. 2&3. 
 
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  domicile within the meaning of Part II of the Succession Act, 1925 (XXXIX of 
1925), as in force at the commencement of this Act, in Pakistan or in the 
territories now included in Pakistan; or 
(c)  who is a person naturalised as a British subject in Pakistan; and who, if before 
the date of the commencement of this Act he has acquired the citizenship of any 
foreign State, has before that date renounced the same by depositing a 
declaration in writing to that effect with an authority appointed or empowered 
to receive it; 1[or] 
1[(d)  who before the commenc ement of this Act migrated to the territories now 
included in Pakistan from any territory in the Indo -Pakistan sub -continent 
outside those territories with the intention of residing p ermanently in those 
territories] 
1[* * * * * * *] 
4. Citizenship by birth . Every person born in Pakistan after the commencement of this Act 
shall be a citizen of Pakistan by birth: 
Provided that a person shall not be such a citizen by virtue of this section if at the time of his 
birth__ 
(a)  his father possesses such immunity from suit and legal process as is accorded to 
an envoy of an external sovereign power accredited in Pakistan and is not a 
citizen of Pakistan; or 
(b)  his father is an enemy alien and the birth occurs in a place then under occupation 
by the enemy. 
5. Citizenship by descent. 2[(1)] Subject to the provisions of section 3 a person born after the 
commencement of this Act shall be a citizen of Pakistan by descent if his 3[parent] is a citizen of 
Pakistan at the time of his birth: 
Provided that if the 3[parent] of such person is a citizen of Pakistan by descent only, that person 
shall not be a citizen of Pakistan by virtue of this section unless__ 
(a)  that person’s birth having occurred in a country outside Pakistan the birth is 
registered at a Pakistan Consulate or Mission in that country, or where there is 
no Pakistan Consulate or Mission in that country 1[at the prescribed Consulate 
or Mission or] at a Pakistan Consulate or Mission in the country nearest to that 
country; or 
(b)  that person’s 3[parent] is, at the time of the birth, in the service of any 
Government in Pakistan. 
2[(2) The substitution of word “parent”,  for the word “father”  by the Pakis tan Citizenship 
(Amendment) Ordinance, 2000 (XIII of  2000) shall always be deemed to have been so done on and 
from the commencement of this Act.] 
 
 
1Ins. and omitted by Act No. V of 1952, ss. 3-4. 
2Numbered and added by Act No. XXVII of 2026 s. 2. 
3Subs. by Ord. No. XIII of 2000, s. 2. 
 
 
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6. Citizenship by migration .__ (1) The 1[Federal Government] may, upon his obtaining a 
certificate of domicile under this Act, register as a citizen of Pakistan by mig ration any person who 
2[after the commencement of this Act and before the first day of January, 1952, has migrated] to the 
territories now included in Pakistan from any territory in the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent outside those 
territories, with the intention of residing permanently in those territories: 
Provided that the 1[Federal Government] may, by general or special order, exempt any person 
or class of persons from obtaining a certificate of domicile required under this sub-section. 
(2) Registration granted under the preceding sub -section shall include, besides the person 
himself, his wife, if any, unless his marriage with her has been dissolved, an d any minor child of his 
dependent whether wholly or partially upon him. 
7. Persons migrating from the territories of Pakistan. Notwithstanding anything in sections 
3, 4 and 6, a person who has after the first day of March, 1947, migrated from the territories now 
included in Pakistan to the territories now included in India shall not be a citizen of Pakistan under the 
provisions of these sections: 
Provided that nothing in this  section shall apply to a person who, after having so migrated to 
the territories now included in India has returned to the territories now included in Pakistan under  a 
permit for resettlement or permanent return issued by or under the authority of any law for the time 
being in force. 
8. Rights of citizen ship of certain persons resident  abroad. 1[(1)] The 1[Federal 
Government] may, upon application made to it in this b ehalf, register as a citizen of Pakistan any 
person who, or whose father or whose father’s father, was born in the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent and 
who is ordinarily resident in a country outside Pakistan at the commencement of this Act, if he has, 
unless exempted by the 1[Federal Government] in this behalf, obtained a certificate of domicile: 
Provided that a certificate of domicile shall not be required in the case of any such person who 
is out of Pakistan under the protection of a Pakistan passport, or in the case of any such person whose 
father or whose father’s father is at the commencement of this Act residing in Pakistan or becomes, 
before the aforesaid application is made, a citizen of Pakistan. 
1[(2) A subject of the State of Jammu and Kashmir who, be ing under the protection of a 
Pakistan passport, is resident in the United Kingdom or such other country as the Federal Government 
may, by notification in the official Gazette, specify in this behalf, shall, without prejudice to his rights 
and status as a subject of that State, be deemed to be, and always to have been, a citizen of Pakistan.] 
9. Citizenship by naturalisation. The 1[Federal Government] may, upon an application made 
to it in that behalf by any person who has been granted a certificate of natu ralisation under the 
Naturalisation Act, 1926 (VII of 1926), register that person as a citizen of Pakistan by naturalization: 
Provided that the 1[Federal Government] may register any person as a citizen of Pakistan 
without his having obtained a certificate of naturalisation as aforesaid. 
10. Married women.__ (1) Any woman who by reason of her marriage to a 2[British subject] 
before the first day of January, 1949, has acquired the status of a 2[British subject] shall, if her husband 
becomes a citizen of Pakistan, be a citizen of Pakistan. 
 
 
1Subs., renumbered and added by Act No. XLVIII of 1973, ss. 2-3. 
2Subs. by Act No. V of 1952, ss. 5-6. 
 
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(2) Subject to the provisions of sub -section (1) and sub -section (4) a woman who has been 
married to a citizen of Pakistan or to a person who but for his death would have been a ci tizen of 
Pakistan under section  3, 4 or 5 shall be entitled, on making application therefor to the 1[Federal 
Government] in the prescribed manner and, if she is an alien, on obtaining a certificate of domicile and 
taking the oath of allegiance in the form set out in the Schedule to this Act, to be registered as a citizen 
of Pakistan whether or not she has completed twentyone years of her age and is of full capacity. 
(3) Subject as aforesaid, a woman who has been married to a person who, but for his death, 
could have been a citizen of Pakistan under the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 6 (whether he 
migrated as provided in that sub -section or is deemed under the proviso to section 7 to have so 
migrated) shall be entitled as provided in sub -section (2) subject further, if she is an alien, to her 
obtaining the certificate and taking the oath therein mentioned. 
(4) A person who has ceased to be a citizen of Pakistan under section 14 or who has been 
deprived of citizenship of Pakistan under this Act shall not be entitled to be registered as a citizen 
thereof under this section but may be so registered with the previous consent of the 1[Federal 
Government]. 
11. Registration of minors .__ (1) The 1[Federal Government] may, upon application to it in 
this behalf made in the prescribed manner by a parent or guardian of a minor child of a citizen of 
Pakistan, register the child as a citizen of Pakistan. 
(2) The 1[Federal Government] may, in such circumstances as it thinks fit, register any minor 
as a citizen of Pakistan. 
12. Citizenship by registration to begin on date of registration . Any person registered as a 
citizen of Pakistan shall be such a citizen from the date of his registration. 
13. Citizenship by incorporation of territory. If any territory becomes a part of Pakistan the 
2[President] may, by order, specify the persons who shall be citizens of Pakistan by reason of their 
connection with that territory; and those persons shall be citizens of Pakistan from such date and upon 
such conditions, if any, as may be specified in the order. 
14. Dual citizenship or nationality not permitted .__ (1) Subject to the provisions of this 
section if any person is a citizen of Pakistan under the provisions of this Act, and is at the same time a 
citizen or national of any other country, he shall, unless 3[* * *] he makes a declaration according to 
the laws of that other country renouncing his status as citizen or national thereof, cease to be a citizen 
of Pakistan. 
3[(1A) Nothing in sub-section (1) applies to a person who has not attained twenty-one years of 
his age.] 
(2) Nothing in 3[sub-section (1)] shall apply to any person who is a subject of an acceding State 
so far as concerns his being a subject of that State. 
4[(3) Nothing in sub -section (1) shall apply, or shall be deemed ever to have applied at any 
stage, to a person who, being or having at any time been, a citizen of Pakistan, is also the citizen of the  
 
1Subs. by Act No. XLVIII of 1973, s. 3. 
2Subs. by the Central Laws (Adaptation) Order, 1961 (P. O. No. 1 of 1961), Art. 2 and Table.  
3Omitted, ins. and subs. by Act No. V of 1952, s. 7. 
4Added by Act No. XVII of 1972, s. 2. 
 
 
 
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United Kingdom and Colonies or of such other country as the Federal Government may, by notification 
in the official Gazette, specify in this behalf. 
(4) Nothing in sub -section (1) shall apply to a female citizen of Pakistan who is married to a 
person who is not a citizen of Pakistan.] 
1[14A. Renunciation of citizenship. __ (1) If any citizen of Pakistan residing outside Pakistan, 
who is not a minor and__ 
(a)  is also a citizen or national of another country, or 
(b) has been given by the competent authority of another country any valid 
document assuring him of the grant of the citizenship or nationality of that other 
country upon renouncing his citizenship of Pakistan, 
makes in the prescribed manner a declaration renouncing his citizenship of Pakistan, 
the declaration shall be registe red by the prescrib ed authority,  and upon such 
registration that person shall cease to be a citizen of Pakistan: 
Provided that, if any such declaration is made during any war in which Pakistan 
may be engaged, registration thereof shall be withheld until the Federal Governmen t 
otherwise directs. 
(2) Where a male person ceases to be a citizen of Pakistan under sub-section (1)__ 
(a)  every such minor child of that person as is residing outside Pakistan shall 
thereupon cease to be a citizen of Pakistan; 
Provided that any such child may, within one year of his completing the age of 
twenty-one years, make a declaration that he wishes to resume the citizenship 
of Pakistan and shall upon the making of such declarati on become a citizen of 
Pakistan; and 
(b)  every such minor child of that person as is residing in Pakistan shall continue to 
be a citizen of Pakistan.] 
2[(3) Subject to notification by the Federal Government in the official Gazette under sub -
section (3) of section 14, any person who has renounced citizenship of Pakistan under sub-section (1), 
may resume citizenship of Pakistan by making a declaration in the prescribed manner and upon making 
of such declaration he may thereupon become a citizen of Pakistan. 
(4) Where declaration under sub -section (3) is made by a person, ev ery minor child of such 
person whose citizenship has ceased under sub -section (2) may thereupon become a citizen of 
Pakistan.] 
3[14B. Certain persons to be citizens of Pakistan. __ A person who, being a subject of the 
State of Jammu and Kashmir, has migrated to Pakistan with the intention of residing therein until such 
time as the relationship between Pakistan and that State is finally determined shall, without prejudice 
to his status as such subject, be a citizen of a Pakistan.] 
 
1Ins. by Act No. XVII of 1972, s. 3. 
2Added by Act No. XXIII of 2025, s.2. 
3Ins. and shall be deemed to have been so inserted on the twentieth day of April, 1972, by Act No. XXXIX of 1973, s. 2. 
 
 
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15. Persons becoming citizens to have the status of Commonwealth citizens. Every person 
becoming a citizen of Pakistan under this Act shall have the status of a Commonwealth citizen. 
16. Deprivation of citizenship.__ (1) A citizen of Pakistan shall cease to be a citizen of Pakistan 
if he is deprived of that citizenship by an order under the next following sub-sections. 
(2) Subject to the provisions of this section the 1[Federal Government] may by order deprive 
any suc h citizen of his citizenship if it is satisfied that he obtained his certificate of domicile or 
certificate of naturalisation 2[under the Natural isation Act, 1926 ] by means of fraud, false 
representation or the concealment of any material fact, or if his certificate of naturalization 2[under the 
naturalization Act, 1926] is revoked. 
(3) Subject to the provisions of this section the 1[Federal Government] may by order deprive 
any person who is a citizen of Pakistan by naturalisation of his citizenship of Pakistan if it is satisfied 
that that citizen__ 
(a)  has shown himself by any act or speech to be disloyal or disaffected to the 
Constitution of Pakistan; or 
(b)  has, during a war in which Pakistan is or has been engaged, unlawfully traded 
or communicated with the enemy or engaged in or associated with any business 
that was to his knowledge carried on in such a manner as to assist the enemy in 
that war; or 
(c)  has within five years of being naturalised been sentenced in any country to 
imprisonment for a term of not less than twelve months. 
(4) The 1[Federal Government] may on an application being made or on its own motion by 
order deprive any citizen of Pakistan of his citizenship if it is satisfied that he has been ordinarily 
resident in a cou ntry outside Pakistan for a continuous period of seven years 2[beginning not earlier 
than the commencement of this Act] and during that period has neither__ 
(i)  been at any time in the service of any Government in Pakistan or of an 
international organisation of which Pakistan has, at any time during that period 
been a member; nor 
(ii)  registered annually in the prescribed manner at a Pakistan Consulate or Mission 
or in a country where there is no Pakistan Consulate or Mission 2[at the 
prescribed Consulate or Mission or] at a Pakistan Consulate or Mission in a 
country nearest to the country of his residence hi s intention to retain Pakistan 
Citizenship. 
(5) The 1[Federal Government] shall not make an order depriving a person of citizenship under 
this section unless it is satisfied that it is in the public interest that that person should not continue to 
be a citizen of Pakistan. 
(6) Before making an order under this section the 1[Federal Government] shall give the person 
against whom it is proposed to make the order notice in writing informing him of the grounds on which 
it is proposed to make the order and calling upon him to show cause why it should not be made. 
 
1Subs. by Act No. XLVIII of 1973, s. 3. 
2Ins. by Act No. V of 1952, s. 8. 
 
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(7) If it is proposed to make the order on any of the grounds specified in sub -sections (2) and 
(3) of this section and the person against whom it is proposed to make the order applies in the 
prescribed manner for an inquiry, the 1[Federal Government] shall, and in any other  case may, refer 
the case to a c ommittee of inquiry consisting of a chairman, being a person possessing judicial 
experience, appointed by the 1[Federal Government] and of such other members appointed by the 
1[Federal Government] as it thinks proper. 
2[16A. Certain persons to lose and others to retain citizenship.__ (1) All persons who, at any 
time before the sixteenth day of December, 1971, were citizens of Pakistan domiciled in the territories 
which before the said day constituted the Province of East Pakistan and who__ 
(i) were residing in those territories on that day and are residing therein since that 
day voluntarily or otherwise shall cease to be citizens of Pakistan; 
(ii) were residing in Pakistan on that day but after that day volu ntarily migrated to 
those territories shall cease to be citizens of Pakistan; 
(iii) were residing in Pakistan on that day and are voluntarily residing therein since 
that day shall continue to be citizens of Pakistan; 
(iv) were residing in those territories  on that day but voluntarily came to Pakistan 
after that day with the approval of the Federal Government shall continue to be 
citizens of Pakistan: 
Provided that any persons referred to in clause (i) whose repatriation to 
Pakistan has been agreed to by the Federal Government and who have not been 
so repatriated before the commencement of Pakistan Citizenship (Amendment) 
Ordinance, 1978, shall continue to be citizens of Pakistan. 
(2) Any person who, at any time before the sixteenth day of December, 1971, was a citizen of 
Pakistan domiciled in the territories which before the said day constituted the Province of East Pakistan 
and who, being under the protection of a Pakistan passport, was on that day, or is, residing in any 
country beyond those territories sha ll not be deemed to be a citizen of Pakistan unless, upon an 
application made by him to the Federal Government in this behalf, the Federal Government has granted 
him a certificate that at the date of the certificate he is a citizen of Pakistan.] 
17. Certificate of domicile. The 1[Federal Government] may upon an application being made 
to it in the prescribed manner containing the prescribed particulars grant a certificate of domicile to 
any person in respect of whom it is satisfied that he has ordinarily res ided in Pakistan for a period of 
not less than one year immediately before the making of the application, and has acquired a domicile 
therein. 
18. Delegation of powers . The 1[Federal Government] may, by order notified in the o fficial 
Gazette, direct that any power conferred upon it or duty imposed on it by this Act shall, in such 
circumstances, and under such conditions, if any, as may be specified in the direction, be exercised or 
discharged by such authority or officer as may be specified. 
 
 
1Subs. by Act No. XLVIII of 1973, s. 3. 
2Ins. by Ordinance No. XI of 1978, s.2. 
 
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19. Cases of doubt as to citizenship .__ (1) Where a person with respect to whose citizenship 
a doubt exists, whether on a question of law or fact, makes application in that behalf to the 1[Federal 
Government], the 1[Federal Government] may grant him a certificate that at the date of the certificate 
he is a citizen of Pakistan. 
(2) The certificate, unless it is proved to have been obtained by fraud, false representation or 
concealment of any material fact, shall be conclusive evidence of the fact recorded in it. 
20. Acquisition of Pakistan citize nship by citizens of Commonwealth countries . The 
1[Federal Government] may upon such terms and conditions as it may by general or special order 
specify register a 2[Commonwealth citizen or a British protected person] as a citizen of Pakistan. 
21. Penalties. Any person who in order to obtain or prevent the doing of anything under the 
Act makes any statement or furnishes any information which is false in any material particular and 
which he knows or has reasonable cause to believe to be false, or doe s not believe to be true, shall be 
deemed to have committed an offence punishable under section 177 of the Pakistan Penal Code (Act 
XLV of 1860). 
22. Interpretation.__ (1) For the purposes of this Act a person born abroad a registered ship or 
aircraft, or abroad an unregistered ship or aircraft of the Government of any country shall be deemed 
to have been born in the place in which the ship or aircraft was registered or as the case may be in that 
country. 
(2) Any reference in this Act to the status or description of the father of a person at the time of 
that person’s birth shall, in relation to a person born after the death of his father be construed as a 
reference to the status or description of the father at t he time of the father’s death ; and where that 
death occurred before, and the birth occurs after the commencement of this Act, the status or 
description which would have been applicable to the father had he died after the commencement of 
this Act shall be deemed to be the status or description applicable to him at the time of his death. 
23. Rules.__ (1) The 1[Federal Government] may frame rules  for carrying into effect the 
provisions of this Act. 
(2) No rule framed under this Act shall have effect unless published in the official Gazette. 
__________ 
SCHEDULE 
(Form of Oath or affirmation) 
(Section 10) 
“I (name) of (address) do hereby swear (or affirm) that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance 
to the Constitution of Pakistan”. 
_______ 
RGN Date: 02-04-2026 
 
1Subs. by Act No. XLVIII of 1973, s. 3. 
2Subs. by Act No. V of 1952, s. 9.