Before you start

A job offer from a company registered in Pakistan, with its incorporation and tax documents
A Board of Investment recommendation where the employer is a registered foreign-investment enterprise
A passport valid well beyond the intended stay
Or, for anyone of Pakistani descent, documentary proof of that descent

Step-by-step

1
Test your POC and NICOP eligibility before an employer opens a file
POC is for foreign nationals of Pakistani origin — former citizens, descendants, foreign spouses — and NADRA states it carries visa-free entry, indefinite stay, exemption from foreigners' registration reporting, property and banking rights and eligibility for employment. NICOP is for people who are still Pakistani citizens. Either ends the visa question outright.
OnlineWho: YouBefore anything else
2
Have the employer lodge the work visa through NADRA's portal
Applications run through visa.nadra.gov.pk with the sponsor letter, incorporation certificate and tax registration. DGI&P publishes the entry visa at up to three months, with the substantive stay coming from the in-country extension. For a textile or engineering employer, expect the Board of Investment route if the company is a registered foreign-investment enterprise.
Via employerWho: Your employer6–10 weeks before travel
3
Keep the Form-C issued at arrival
The FIA's guidance is that you give the immigration officer details of your visit on arrival and receive a copy of Form-C. File it — it underpins any subsequent registration step and is much easier to keep than to reconstruct. Most arrivals for Faisalabad land at Lahore rather than at Faisalabad International.
In personWho: YouOn arrival
4
Check whether your nationality has to register with the police
Under the Registration of Foreigners Rules 1966 the police registration and residential permit requirement applies to nationals of India and Somalia and to anyone immigration directs. Most nationalities are exempt. Confirm at the counter rather than assuming — the answer depends on your passport, not on the city. Note that Punjab has no equivalent of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's law requiring your landlord to register every tenant with the police.
In personWho: You
5
Budget a Lahore trip for anything that needs a Regional Passport Office in a provincial capital
The Ministry of Interior's published policy empowers Regional Passport Offices at Islamabad and the provincial capitals to grant a one-year in-country extension on business visas against business documentation. Faisalabad is not a provincial capital, so for that particular errand the relevant office is Lahore — about two hours on the M-3 and M-2, or a short flight nobody takes. Confirm the current position before travelling, since this policy has moved before.
In personWho: You
6
Start the extension two to three months before expiry
Extensions are lodged online but processed by DGI&P, and the security clearance sits here rather than only on the first grant. Two months is comfortable; two weeks is how people end up out of status through nobody's fault.
OnlineWho: You and your employerFrom 2–3 months before expiry

Documents you’ll need

Passport with the Pakistani visa
Employer sponsor letter, incorporation certificate and tax registration
Form-C from arrival
Board of Investment recommendation, where applicable
For POC or NICOP: a parent's CNIC, a former Pakistani passport, or a family registration certificate

Things most newcomers don’t know

Being in Pakistan's third city and not a provincial capital costs you a day at a time, repeatedly.

Faisalabad is larger than Islamabad and Peshawar combined and has none of the offices that go with capital status. The Ministry of Interior's policy on business visa extensions names Islamabad and the provincial capitals; the provincial revenue authority, the high court and most of the senior administrative machinery are in Lahore. The M-3 makes it a two-hour drive rather than a day trip, but the pattern is worth planning around — batch the Lahore errands rather than making the journey four times.

Source: Ministry of Interior policy, as published; confirm before travelling

The POC removes the entire visa problem for a large share of people arriving in central Punjab.

Punjab is where most of the British, Canadian and Gulf Pakistani diaspora originates, and Faisalabad district specifically has sent a great many people abroad. NADRA's stated POC rights — indefinite stay, exemption from police and foreigners' registration reporting, property purchase anywhere in Pakistan, bank accounts and eligibility for employment — make the work visa question moot for anyone with a Pakistani parent, grandparent or spouse. Employers routinely open visa files for people who never needed one.

Source: NADRA

NICOP and POC do different things, and the difference is citizenship rather than residence.

NICOP is issued to Pakistani citizens residing abroad and supports a Pakistani passport and voter registration. POC is issued to foreign nationals of Pakistani origin and does neither. If you renounced Pakistani citizenship in order to naturalise somewhere that forbids dual nationality, NICOP is closed to you and POC is the route back. Applying for the wrong one costs several weeks and a non-refundable fee, and the two names are used interchangeably by people who should know better.

Source: NADRA

There is no ladder, which changes the logic of staying.

Pakistan has no points system, no qualifying residence period and nothing that converts into permanent residence. Ten years of renewed work visas leaves you exactly where one year does. That removes the usual incentive to stay continuously or to tolerate a poor job to protect a clock — decisions here can be made on their merits rather than on immigration arithmetic. The only durable statuses are inherited ones.

Source: DGI&P

Common mistakes to avoid

Opening a work visa file when a POC application would have ended the problem.
Confusing NICOP and POC and applying for the one your citizenship excludes.
Leaving the extension to the last fortnight when a security clearance sits on it.
Making four separate trips to Lahore for errands that could have been batched into one.
Assuming a foreigner registration duty that mostly does not apply — or assuming it never does.

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