Visiting Pakistan from Abroad: A Diaspora Guide

Returning to Pakistan after years away is a specific kind of trip. The country has changed; you have changed; the people travelling with you may have never been. Here is how we plan it.

A family arriving at a Karimabad guesthouse with mountain views.

About a third of our work is with overseas Pakistanis, British, American, Canadian, Gulf-based, who haven't been home in 5, 15, sometimes 30 years and want to bring spouses, children or grandchildren who have never been. Visiting pakistan from abroad as diaspora is its own category of trip and we treat it that way.

Who this is for

Typical client: second-generation Pakistani, grew up in London, Toronto or Houston. Parents emigrated in the 1970s or 80s. Family village is somewhere in Punjab or Azad Kashmir. They want to take their non-Pakistani partner or their teenagers and have a real trip, not just two weeks in a relative's drawing room.

POC and NICOP, the document piece

If you hold a foreign passport but were born to Pakistani parents, you are eligible for a Pakistan Origin Card (POC) or a NICOP if you have ever held Pakistani citizenship. Either gives visa-free entry for life. We help clients apply 8-10 weeks before travel through the relevant high commission.

Travelling with a non-Pakistani spouse or children? They need the standard e-visa, which we cover in the visa guide.

Shape of a typical diaspora trip

2-3 days in Lahore or Karachi, the food and the city the family talks about
2-3 days in the ancestral village or town, we arrange transport and a base hotel nearby so nobody is sleeping in spare rooms
5-7 days in the north, Hunza, Skardu or Fairy Meadows, the part nobody in the family has usually seen either
1 night back in Islamabad before the flight home

Bringing foreign-born family

Children and partners who have never been to Pakistan need a slightly more curated experience than the rest of the family does. We brief on heat, food, water, dress norms in different regions. We use international-standard hotels even in smaller cities. We build in pool afternoons and rest days. See the separate piece on bringing foreign-born children.

Q. Can we visit the family village without staying there?

Absolutely, and most clients prefer it. We base you in the nearest town with a proper hotel and arrange day visits.

Q. Do we need to speak Urdu?

Not at all. We provide English-speaking guides throughout. Family conversations happen in whatever language already works.

Q. Is it strange to use a tour operator in our own country?

Not at all, it is most of our diaspora work. The logistics of moving 6 people across 4 cities with elderly relatives and foreign-passport children are exactly what we exist to handle.

Written by

Zain Karim

Head of mountain operations

Zain has run private trips through Hunza, Skardu and the Karakoram since 2019. He spends about 120 nights a year above 2,500 m and writes about the routes he guides.

Has guided the Hunza-Skardu loop more than forty times.