Before you start

Legal residence in Pakistan
An International Driving Permit for the first months, alongside your national licence
A learner permit before a full Punjab licence
A medical certificate for some categories and older applicants

Step-by-step

1
Check the seven e-bus routes against your commute, then assume you will need a vehicle anyway
The electric bus service launched in September 2025 runs thirty buses on seven major routes at a flat PKR 20, and the published launch corridors ran from Yousuf Town to Saigol City and from the University Roundabout toward Sidhupur. If one of them happens to match your journey it is by far the cheapest way to make it. If not — which is the more likely outcome for now — drive the actual commute at the hour you would drive it before signing a lease. Madina Town to Civil Lines and Madina Town to the Sahianwala interchange are very different lives.
In personWho: YouBefore signing a lease
2
Drive on an International Driving Permit while you decide
An IDP issued in your home country alongside your national licence is the accepted document for driving in Pakistan as a visitor. It is a bridge rather than a destination — it does not convert into a Pakistani licence.
OnlineWho: YouBefore arrival
3
Apply for the learner permit on DLIMS
Punjab's DLIMS 2.0 sits inside the province's Dastak one-window platform: create an account, submit the application, generate a PSID payment token, pay through ePay, track the application on a dashboard and print the learner licence. It is genuinely the most digitised licensing service in Pakistan, and the app handles learner, regular and international licence services in one place.
OnlineWho: You
4
Confirm what identity document a foreign national may use
DLIMS is designed around the CNIC. A POC or NICOP holder is fine; a foreign national on a work visa should ask the district licensing branch what the in-person route is rather than assuming the online process applies. This is a systems assumption rather than a legal bar, but it will stop you at the first screen.
In personWho: You
5
Take the test after the permit period
The full licence follows a theory and practical assessment at a licensing centre. Standards are less exacting than in Europe, but Faisalabad's mix of rickshaws, motorbikes, tractors and loaded trucks on the same road is its own curriculum. A few supervised hours with someone who drives here is worth more than test preparation.
In personWho: You
6
Learn the motorway network before you learn the city
The M-3 to Lahore and the M-4 to Multan both touch Faisalabad, and they are far better roads than anything within the city. Almost every intercity journey you make will start with getting onto one of them. Toll is paid by card or cash at the plazas, and the same smog that closes schools in December also closes motorways.
Mobile appWho: You

Documents you’ll need

National licence from your home country
International Driving Permit, for the visitor period
Passport with valid visa, or CNIC/NICOP/POC
Proof of a Faisalabad address
Medical certificate, for some categories

Things most newcomers don’t know

Faisalabad's public transport is one year old, and most guidance about the city predates it entirely.

Punjab's Chief Minister launched the city's first electric bus service on 29 September 2025 — thirty buses on seven major routes at a flat PKR 20 fare, with free travel for senior citizens, women, students and people with disabilities, and a metro bus project announced at the same ceremony. Before that, Pakistan's third-largest city had nothing: no metro, no bus rapid transit, no organised municipal bus network, while Lahore, Multan and Peshawar all had something. Check the routes, because the service is real; but plan on a vehicle, because thirty buses across a city of three and a half million is a pilot rather than a system, and the address you choose is still a semi-permanent constraint on your commute.

Source: Radio Pakistan, 29 September 2025

Punjab's licensing moved inside Dastak, and the guidance most people find has not caught up.

DLIMS 2.0 is now an integrated component of the Government of Punjab's Dastak one-window platform, handling form submission, verification, ePay payment against a generated PSID token and card tracking in a single flow, with learner, regular and international licence services in the same app. Older walkthroughs describe a standalone DLIMS site and a different payment route. Start from the current portal rather than from a blog post, and expect the app rather than a counter.

Source: Punjab DLIMS

The online system assumes you hold a CNIC, which foreign nationals do not.

Every Pakistani provincial licensing portal keys off the computerised national identity card. That is fine for citizens and for POC and NICOP holders, whose numbers the system recognises, and awkward for a foreign national on a work visa, whose route is generally an in-person application at the district licensing branch. Knowing this before you try saves an afternoon of failed form submissions.

Source: Punjab DLIMS

Licensing is provincial, and a Punjab licence is administered by Punjab.

Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the federal capital each run their own licensing systems with their own portals and counters. The licence is valid for driving nationwide, but renewals and records follow the issuing province. If you move from Faisalabad to Peshawar you keep the licence and change the administrative relationship, which surprises people who assume a national register.

Source: Provincial licensing authorities

Common mistakes to avoid

Choosing an address before driving the commute, in a city whose bus network is thirty vehicles old.
Reading a guide written before September 2025 and concluding Faisalabad has no public transport at all.
Starting a DLIMS application as a foreign national and stalling at the CNIC field.
Following a walkthrough written before DLIMS moved into the Dastak platform.
Assuming a national licensing register when four jurisdictions run four systems.
Planning winter intercity drives on the M-3 or M-4 without checking smog advisories.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.