Overseas Pakistanis (), or the Pakistani diaspora, refer to Pakistanis who live outside of Pakistan. These include citizens who have migrated to another country as well as people born abroad of Pakistani descent. They form a part of the broader South Asian diaspora, commonly referred to as the Desi diaspora.
According to a December 2017 estimate by the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, approximately 8.8 million Pakistanis live abroad. Data released in 2023 by the Ministry of Emigration and Overseas Employment states that more than 10.80 million Pakistanis have moved abroad since 1990.
The vast majority, over 4.7 million, reside in the Middle East. The second-largest community, around 1.6 million, lives in the United Kingdom, followed by the United States (especially in New York City, Chicago, and New Jersey) in third place. Other European countries such as Italy, Germany, Spain and Norway also host large Pakistani communities, as do Canada and Australia.
According to the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Pakistan has the 6th largest diaspora in the world.
In 2021, overseas Pakistanis sent record remittances with growth at 26 percent and levels reaching US$33 billion.
Terminology The term Overseas Pakistani is officially recognised by the Government of Pakistan. It refers to Pakistani citizens who have not resided in Pakistan for a specified period (for the purpose of income tax) and to people born abroad who are of Pakistani descent.
National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis
The National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis, or NICOP, is a Computerised National Identity Card issued to workers, emigrants, citizens, or Pakistanis holding dual nationality. NICOP was conceived by NADRA in 2002 as a project of mutual resolve between the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation, the Ministry of Labour & Manpower, and the Ministry of Interior. All NICOP holders are registered in the NADRA database to provide authenticity of the individual and visa-free entry into Pakistan. Proof of family relationships is necessary for various legal and administrative purposes involving NICOP.
Pakistan Origin Card The Pakistan Origin Card, or POC, is issued by Pakistani embassies or high commissions to people of Pakistani origin living abroad.POC NADRA Retrieved 23 January 2010. POC are not issued to those with dual nationalities.NICOP Pakistan High Commission, UK Retrieved 23 January 2010.
Emigration from Pakistan Emigration from the territories that now constitute Pakistan began as early as 3000 BC.
Prehistoric
The presence of Harappan merchants in Mesopotamia from the Indus Valley civilisation is suggested by various forms of glyptic evidence. A recently discovered Mesopotamian cylinder seal inscription reveals that an interpreter from "Meluhha" (Harappa) was present. Several Indus-scripted seals have also been discovered in excavations.
Middle Ages
During the 10th century, Arabic chronicles mention tribes coming into contact with Baloch settlers. The majority of Baloch settlers originated from the Makran coast and settled in what is today Oman, forming part of the Bedoon community. Many of them worked in various trades, including barbers, fan operators, and shopkeepers. Some were even drafted as soldiers for the army of the Iman of Oman. A small population of Muslim clergy from Punjab, Kashmir, and Sindh settled in Mecca by the 14th century to aid travellers from the region making the journey for Hajj and to help expand Islam throughout the Indus Valley and its tributaries. Bankers and merchants from southern Punjab (Multan) and northern Sindh (Shikarpur) were present in Safavid Persia during the 15th century, living alongside Jews and Armenians. Pashtun traders arrived by boat in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, as early as the 15th century. The Mukkuvar locals established an alliance with the Pashtun traders, enlisting their help to fend off incursions from rivals in the north. The traders were rewarded through marriages and settled in Eravur. Their settlement may have been deliberate, forming a buffer against future invasions from the north. When Arab and Persian merchants expanded maritime trade routes in the 16th century, Sindh became fully integrated into the inter-Asian trade network. This led to increased trade and navigational interactions between Sindhi merchants and Arab/Persian merchants. Sindh also maintained independent commercial relations with East Asia and Southeast Asia, particularly with the Kedah Sultanate on the Malay Peninsula.
Colonial era (1842–1947)
After the fall of Sindh in 1842 and Punjab in 1849, a large part of the territory of today's Pakistan came under rule of the British Empire. From 1842 to 1857, a small number of immigrants from Punjab, Sindh, and Kashmir began arriving in the British Isles as employees of the British East India Company, typically as lashkars and sailors in British port cities. After the establishment of the British Raj in 1858, Baloch and Pashtuns, along with Punjabis, Sindhis, and Kashmiris, continued coming to Britain as seamen, traders, students, domestic workers, cricketers, political officials, and visitors. A small number of them settled in the region. Many influential members of the Pakistan Movement, including Muhammad Iqbal and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, spent a considerable amount of time in Britain and Europe, studying at major British institutions.D. N. Panigrahi, India's Partition: The Story Of Imperialism In Retreat, 2004; Routledge, p. 16. Between 1860 and 1930, camel caravans worked in Outback Australia, which included Pashtun, Punjabi, Baloch, and Sindhi menWestrip, J. & Holroyde, P. (2010): Colonial Cousins: a surprising history of connections between India and Australia. Wakefield Press. , p. 175. as well as others from Kashmir.australia.gov.au > About Australia > Australian Stories > Afghan cameleers in Australia Accessed 8 May 2014. By 1900, Punjabis and Pashtuns began migrating to other parts of the British Empire. Many were veterans of the British Army, but also included a small migrant population who were legally considered British subjects. Pashtun migrants opted for the British Trucial States, where the British used their subjects as a valuable human resource in running the administration.Jonathan S. Addelton, Undermining The Centre; The Gulf Migration and Pakistan, Oxford University Press,1992. British Columbia became a destination for many Punjabi migrants as agents of the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Hudson's Bay Company guaranteed jobs for them between 1902 and 1905. However, many Punjabi migrants returned due to racism and the curtailing of migration of non-whites by the Canadian government.Pg. 79. White Canada Forever. By W. Peter Ward. 2002. McGill, Quebec, Canada. . Others sought opportunities by moving to the United States, particularly Yuba City, California. Poor wages and working conditions convinced Punjabi workers to pool their resources, lease land, and grow their own crops, thereby establishing themselves in the newly budding farming economy of northern California.
Many people from modern Pakistan migrated and settled in Malaysia, which was also part of the British Empire. The Malays and Pakistanis share a strong Muslim identity. At the time of Malaysia's independence under the Federation of Malaya Independence Act 1957, there were more than two hundred thousand Pakistanis residing in Malaysia. Rather than forming a separate group under the categorized system, at the suggestion of the Malays themselves, Pakistanis immersed themselves into the Malay group. Thus, they became part of the Bumiputra elite, enriched by social ties, intermarriage, and shared economic and political aspirations. They also took positions in the civil service administration and gradually rose to the upper echelons of government, becoming inextricably intermixed with the Malay majority. Many elite Malay families have at least one grandparent who was Pakistani. Diplomats, judges, legislators, and other government cadres include people with recognized Pakistani-Malay bloodlines.
Post independence
1947 to 1970
Emigration from Pakistan was relatively small between 1947 and 1970. The rapid industrialization of Pakistan during the 1950s and 1960s, coupled with the introduction of modern agricultural practices, pushed out surplus labor, leading to mass rural-to-urban migration, primarily to Karachi.Sir Rupert Hay, the Persian Gulf States, Middle East Institute, Washington DC, 1959; International Labour Organization, 1945-1957, Geneva, 1959; Quoted in Addleton, 1992. During this period, the majority of Pakistanis who went abroad considered themselves "sojourners", who left to earn money but did not intend to settle, or were students who planned to return to Pakistan after completing their degree programs. By 1971, no more than 900,000 Pakistanis lived abroad, with most residing in the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia. In 1959, small numbers of Pakistanis were found working in Bahrain, Kuwait, and elsewhere in the Persian Gulf. By 1960, the Pakistani community in Bahrain numbered 2,200, while almost half of the population in Kuwait comprised non-nationals, including a small number from Pakistan. Pakistan was already the single most important source of non-Arab expatriate labor in the Kuwait Oil Company (representing about 19% of the workforce) and trailed only Americans among those working for Saudi Aramco in Saudi Arabia, representing 6% of the workforce.Albert Y. Badre and Simon G Siksek, Manpower and Oil in the Arab Countries, Economic Research Institute, American University of Beirut, 1960.
The first mass migration of Pakistanis began in 1965 during the construction of the Mangla Dam in Azad Jammu & Kashmir. Over 280 villages around Mirpur and Dadyal were submerged, which led to the displacement of over 110,000 people from the region. Pakistanis also emigrated from these areas and the regions of Attock and Nowshera due to high levels of unemployment and harsh terrain that made farming difficult. During the same period, the British government actively sought workers from abroad for industrial towns in north-west England, which were suffering from labor shortages. Many Pakistani emigrants relocated to work in towns like Rochdale, Newcastle, Bristol, High Wycombe, Birmingham, Dewsbury, Huddersfield, and Bradford. Consequently, many work permits for Britain were awarded to the displaced population of Mirpur.Terminski, Bogumil "Development-Induced Displacement and Resettlement: Theoretical Frameworks and Current Challenges", Indiana University, 2013, available at: http://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/dlc/handle/10535/8833?show=full. Close to 50,000 Pakistanis from Mirpur emigrated to northern England between 1965 and 1970. Those who emigrated during this time were aided by the 1948 British Nationality Act, which allowed people from British Commonwealth countries, such as Pakistan, to travel and settle in Britain as they were considered British citizens.
1971 to present
The availability of a large-scale labor force from Pakistan resulted from a combination of economic, social, and institutional factors at home. By 1970, Pakistan was passing through a serious economic and political crisis, which eventually led to the secession of East Pakistan in 1971. The rapid economic development of the 1950s and 1960s could not be sustained by 1970, and a wave of nationalization of business and industry was unfolding under Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. This led to slower large-scale industrialization due to a new wave of industrial unrest and disaffection between industrialists and Bhutto's government, which favored the nationalization of banking, large-scale trading, and industry.