Work Visas are granted to foreign technical and managerial personnel for the purpose of imparting technical know-how and skills to the local population.

A committee under the chairmanship of Secretary, Board of Investment, periodically considers and decides the cases of grant or extension of Work Visas and the conversion of Business Visas to Work Visas.

Companies that need to hire foreign nationals should submit a request along with the prescribed application form and documents to IF Wing BOI Islamabad. For the convenience of companies based in the province of Sindh, BOI Karachi Office has also been authorized to process Work Visa cases [prescribed form can be obtained from BOI Offices at Islamabad and Karachi or can be downloaded from the above link.

As per Visa Policy of the Government of Pakistan, cases of grant or extension of Work Visas, and conversion of Business Visas to Work Visas are processed within 4 weeks.

For multiple entry Work Visa, application has to be submitted to BOI which processes and recommends the case to the Ministry of Interior after a period of 4 weeks from the date of processing of the application. The Ministry of Interior subsequently authorizes Pakistani diplomatic missions abroad to endorse the visa. The multiple entry Work Visa has validity for either one year or till the life of the passport which ever is earlier. Such a visa is extendable on yearly basis.

The cases of extension of Work Visas and conversion of Business Visas to Work Visas are authorized and issued by the Ministry of Interior on the recommendations of BOI. Such cases are endorsed by Regional Passport Office of the city where the expatriate is working. These visas are also extendable on yearly basis.

Applications for extension of three months provisional Work Visa are recommended by BOI directly to the Regional Passport Offices.