Undocumented Afghans

IOM, the UN Migration Agency, is supporting the Government of Pakistan-led initiative to document up to a million undocumented Afghans believed to be living in Pakistan.

The documentation process, which was approved by Pakistan’s cabinet in February as part of the country’s Policy on the Repatriation and Management of Afghans, started on 16th August 2017 and has now accepted applications from over 878,604 Undocumented Afghans.

The documentation exercise aims to meet a need among undocumented Afghans by providing them with identification credentials in form of Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC) that will allow legalize and regularize their stay in Pakistan for a limited period of time, which will be decided through a policy level decision made by the Government of Pakistan.

The documentation process is being carried out by Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), coordinated closely by the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) and Afghanistan’s Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation (MORR).

NADRA has set up 21 afghan citizens centers in 17 district all over Pakistan to implement the programme. As of 24th May, 2018, 878,604 applications for Afghan Citizen Cards (ACCs) have been submitted to NADRA. Most of the documentation to date has taken place at centers in the KP province. But centers in other cities including Lahore, Karachi and Quetta have also documented significant numbers.