‘Self-Reliance in Digital ID’: NADRA launches locally produced QR code-based National Identity Card
The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has taken a major step toward self-reliance and accessible digital identity with the launch of a new chipless National Identity Card powered by a secure QR code.
The newly designed polycarbonate card was locally produced in Pakistan by National Security Printing Company (NSPC), Karachi according to NADRA’s technical and security criteria.
It has now replaced the imported microchip with a secure QR code, eliminating the need for foreign chip providers and simplifying the procedure of safe digital verification.
The federal government on 23 February 2026 officially approved the issuance of the new identity card.
The card contains a secure QR code that can be read and validated immediately on smartphones using the PakIdentity (PakID) mobile app instead of an implanted microchip.
The embedded QR code provides the cardholder’s basic identifying details and portrait, enabling institutions to feed biographical data into their computerised systems with minimum human input errors.
In addition to the standard family number, the new card will have unique symbols and indicators for individuals with impairments, older citizens, organ donors and residents of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
The cardholder’s name and address are printed in both Urdu and English languages to ensure the readability of two languages during official activities.
The card’s visual and hidden security measures have been modernised to meet contemporary security needs and local manufacturing capabilities.
NADRA had introduced the chip-based Smart National Identity Card over 14 years ago but the infrastructure and hardware chip scanners were not available for wide scale use.
The QR code-based card overcomes these operational hurdles, allowing verification using ordinary smartphones or conventional software with camera capabilities.
Organisations authorised to do so, such as telecom carriers, banks, hospitals, Pakistan Railroads and law enforcement agencies, will be given special verification software that will allow them to scan and validate the cards instantaneously.
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The new identity cards will be introduced in phases across the country.
The new polycarbonate card with the secure QR code will start to replace the present standard chipless Teslin material national identity cards being issued from August 14, 2026, which will be the first phase.
The QR code architecture will be extended to other sorts of identity cards including the National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP) and Juvenile Cards from January 2027.
In the last phase of the transformation, the Pakistan Origin Card (POC) will also be converted to the new chipless QR code platform.
NADRA said that all the previously issued identity cards will stay valid till the marked expiry date.