Priya Nair
Pakistan’s free Visa Prior to Arrival, the scheme that let citizens of 126 countries get a 90-day multiple-entry visa online at no cost, is no longer available. The category disappeared from the official Pakistan Online Visa System at visa.nadra.gov.pk on 1 January 2026, with no formal announcement, and it has not returned. Travelers from those 126 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and the European Union member states, now apply for the standard paid Tourist e-Visa on the same portal, where processing is quoted at 7 to 10 working days. This article explains what the free scheme was, what replaced it, who is affected, and how the application works now.
Quick Facts on Pakistan Visas Now
- Status of the free scheme: Suspended since 1 January 2026; the Visa Prior to Arrival category no longer appears in the portal’s application flow, and no reinstatement has been announced
- What it was: A free online visa for citizens of 126 countries, covering tourist, business and Sikh pilgrimage travel, launched in August 2024
- Old terms: No fee, valid 90 days, multiple entry, with a decision targeted within 24 working hours and a Visa Grant Notice sent by email
- What applies now: The standard Tourist/Visit e-Visa, applied for online, in advance, at visa.nadra.gov.pk
- Processing now: 7 to 10 working days, according to the portal’s tourist visa guidance
- Fee now: Set by nationality, and shown inside the portal before you pay; there is no single worldwide price
- Still visa-free: Citizens of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, plus the Maldives (up to 90 days) and Nepal (up to 30 days)
- Only official site: visa.nadra.gov.pk, run by NADRA for the Government of Pakistan; the Pak ID mobile app is its official companion
What the free Visa Prior to Arrival was
Pakistan introduced Visa Prior to Arrival on 14 August 2024 as the centrepiece of a push to make the country easier to visit. Citizens of 126 countries could apply under the tourist, business and Sikh pilgrimage categories without paying any fee, not even a processing charge. The portal page for the scheme, Visa Prior to Arrival (Tourist), set the terms plainly: the visa was valid for 90 days with multiple entries, the stated processing time was 24 working hours, and applicants were asked to submit their intent to travel at least 24 hours before their trip in order to receive a Visa Grant Notice.
The application itself was deliberately light. The portal listed just two required uploads, a photograph and a passport, and the approval arrived by email as a grant notice to show on arrival. For travelers used to South Asian visa paperwork, it was one of the most generous short-stay offers in the region, and it covered most of the nationalities Pakistan wanted to attract, from the United States and the United Kingdom to China, Japan and Australia.
What changed on 1 January 2026
On 1 January 2026 the Visa Prior to Arrival category vanished from the portal. There was no press release, no notice on the portal explaining the change, and no announced replacement scheme. Travelers simply found that the free category was no longer there to select. Reporting through 2026 has consistently described the scheme as suspended, and nothing published since suggests it has been quietly restored.
The clearest trace of the wind-down sits on the portal itself. During 2026 the Visa Prior to Arrival country list page was retitled to cover the GCC countries only, naming Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Those six nationalities never had to apply in the first place, so the page no longer describes a route open to anyone else. The portal’s tourist visa guidance now presents a single standard route, the Tourist/Visit e-Visa, with processing of 7 to 10 working days and a fee that depends on the applicant’s nationality.
Confusion persists because parts of the official web estate were never updated. Pakistan’s embassy in Washington was still describing the free Visa Prior to Arrival, processed within 24 hours for 126 countries, in December 2025, weeks before the suspension took effect, and foreign ministry pages still outline the scheme today. Travel guides written in 2024 and 2025 also still rank in search results with the old terms. The only source that reflects what an applicant can actually do is the application portal itself, which is why every step below starts and ends at visa.nadra.gov.pk.
Who is affected by the suspension
The 126 countries on the former list spanned every region. In the Americas it covered Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and the United States. In Europe it covered the European Union member states, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Ukraine and most of the Balkans. In Asia it included China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam, among others, and in Oceania it covered Australia and New Zealand, alongside 34 African countries from Algeria to Zimbabwe.
If your passport is on that list, the practical consequence is simple: budget money and time for a standard visa again. The fee is back, the one-day turnaround is gone, and a trip planned around a 24-hour approval now needs the application filed weeks ahead. Travelers who used the free scheme in 2024 or 2025 should not assume their earlier grant notice counts for anything now; each new trip needs a fresh, granted visa.
How to apply for the standard tourist visa now
The standard route runs through the same portal the free scheme used. Create an account at visa.nadra.gov.pk, and treat that address as the only legitimate one: lookalike sites with similar names charge service fees for access to a government system, and the government charges nothing for the portal itself. Once registered, choose the Tourist/Visit category and complete the application form with your passport details, travel dates and itinerary.
Upload a photograph and a scan of your passport, together with any supporting documents the portal requests for your category and nationality. The fee for your nationality is calculated and displayed inside the application before payment, so you can see the exact amount before committing. Pay as directed, then wait: the portal’s guidance puts tourist visa processing at 7 to 10 working days, and decisions can take longer at busy periods or when an application is sent back for review. The visa decision arrives by email.
Two of the portal’s own warnings deserve repeating. First, issuance of a visa is the prerogative of the Government of Pakistan: an application is not an approval, and the portal explicitly advises applicants to plan travel only upon receipt of a valid visa. Second, if an application is sent back for review, the processing clock restarts from resubmission, and an application that is not resubmitted within seven days stands cancelled. Build those possibilities into your timeline and apply several weeks before departure, not the 24 hours the old scheme trained people to expect.
Pakistan is one of several countries in the region that have rebuilt their entry paperwork around online systems in the last two years, and the pattern of digital forms replacing airport paper is now familiar across Asia. Our guides to the Thailand Digital Arrival Card and the Indonesia All Indonesia arrival card walk through two neighbouring systems that are still expanding rather than contracting, and both make the same point as this one: the official portal, checked close to departure, is the only version of the rules worth trusting.
Who still enters Pakistan without a visa
A short list of nationalities never needed the free scheme and does not need the standard e-Visa either. Citizens of the six Gulf states, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, do not require a visa for tourist, business and Sikh pilgrimage travel, for stays of up to 90 days. Citizens of the Maldives are likewise visa-exempt for up to 90 days, and citizens of Nepal for up to 30 days. Holders of a NICOP or POC card of Pakistani origin also travel under their own arrangements rather than the visitor visa system.
Everyone else should treat a granted visa, obtained before travel, as a condition of the trip. There is no walk-up tourist visa on arrival to fall back on at the airport, and airlines check visa status before boarding, so arriving at check-in with an application still in progress is functionally the same as having no visa at all.
The mistakes that catch people out
The most common failure is trusting an old guide. Any article, video or forum post describing a free 24-hour Pakistan visa is describing a scheme that ended on 1 January 2026, however official it looks, and some of the stale pages are on government domains. The second failure is timing: 7 to 10 working days is two calendar weeks before weekends and holidays, and a sent-back application restarts the clock. The third is money spent in the wrong place, paying a third-party site that adds a markup for submitting the same form the portal offers directly. The fourth is booking non-refundable flights and hotels around an approval that has not arrived, when the portal itself warns applicants to plan travel only once a valid visa is in hand.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Pakistan Visa Prior to Arrival still free?
No. The free Visa Prior to Arrival was suspended on 1 January 2026 and the category no longer appears on the official portal. Citizens of the 126 countries it covered now apply for the standard Tourist/Visit e-Visa and pay the fee set for their nationality.
Why do so many websites still say the visa is free?
Because the scheme ran from August 2024 to the end of 2025 and generated a large volume of coverage that has not been updated, including pages on some official embassy and ministry sites. The suspension was never formally announced, which slowed corrections. The portal at visa.nadra.gov.pk is the current source of truth.
How long does the standard tourist e-Visa take?
The portal’s tourist visa guidance gives 7 to 10 working days. Apply several weeks before you travel, since an application sent back for review restarts the processing time and is cancelled if it is not resubmitted within seven days.
How much does a Pakistan tourist visa cost now?
It depends on nationality. Fees are reciprocal, the portal calculates the amount for your passport inside the application, and you see the figure before you pay. Any fixed price quoted by a third-party site should be treated as unreliable.
Do US citizens need a visa for Pakistan?
Yes. United States passport holders were on the former 126-country free list, but since 1 January 2026 they need a standard paid e-Visa obtained online in advance, like other former Visa Prior to Arrival nationalities. There is no visa-free entry and no walk-up arrival visa for US tourists.
Will the free Visa Prior to Arrival come back?
There has been no official statement either way as of November 2026: no announced end date for the suspension and no reinstatement date. If you are planning a trip, work on the basis of the standard e-Visa, and check the portal again before you book, in case the position changes.
