Procedure of Documents Attestation from MOFA, Karachi

All educational certificates and degrees issued from Pakistani authorities will only be attested by the Embassy if they are attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan as well as Ministry of Education/HEC.

It may please be noted that Higher Education Commission (HEC) in Islamabad is responsible for the attestation of educational degrees/transcripts by the chartered universities of Pakistan. The details of attestation/equivalence procedure are available at HEC website www.hec.gov.pk. The degree must thereafter be attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Islamabad.

Those who want to attest documents from ministry of foreign affairs should be aware about authorities of the ministry and procedure and nature of documents that they attest. The main office of Ministry of foreign affairs is in Islamabad and its camp offices are located at Peshawar, Lahore, Karachi and Quetta.

Its worth mentioning here that Ministry doesn’t attest the genuineness of the document or the contents of the documents. It only verifies or countersigns the attestation done by the other authorities like educational certificates attested by HEC or IBCC. In short Ministry verifies the signatures of concerned attesting authorities. These documents which MOFA verifies include:

Ministry doesn’t attest documents which are in any other language than urdu and English. The documents once attested from MOFA will remain valid forever and hence will not need to be re-attested. It is pertinent to mention here that Photocopy or translation of any document will be attested when original document is presented or it is attested by a gazetted officer of BPS-17 or above.

Documents Required For MOFA Attestation:

For any one who wish to go abroad for employment or for further education, document attestation from Govt. Offices is a must. Most of the time, people spend a lot of money in getting the attestations done.

My objective is to help & guide you in this regard so that you may save time & money. There can be situations where you might just pay-for-the-services due to time constraints. If you feel locked in a situation, surrender.

Where is Foreign Affairs Office?

In Karachi, the office is situated adjacent to FTC (Finance & Trade Center) main Shahrah-e-Faisal. They usually attest all original & photocopies of documents that are required for employment & education, most common of them are;

1-Birth Certificate
2-Marriage Registration Certificate & Nikah Nama
3-Diploma/HSC certificates
4-Degrees

Recommended Procedures:

What happens at the gate?

Situation out side the office may force you to engage a Agent for attestations, they can charge you from Rs. 1,000/- to Rs. 2,500/- per document. Whereas, the actual cost is just Rs. 10/- to Rs. 20/- per document and this is Government fee in the form of revenue stamps available inside the office.

Remember; there is nothing as Urgent. Documents are returned the same day.

Please avoid all Agents and get inside the iron gate.

Who can get attestation done?

Secondly, please remember that besides your own self (who’s name is mentioned on the documents), only blood relatives (father, mother, brother, sister, daughter & son) including husband & wife can get the documents attested. Sending any one else would not help.

Furthermore, please have your Original CNIC available as Officer will ask for it. If you are a husband or wife or a blood relative who is getting documents attested on behalf of your spouse, please bring both CNICs for verification.

What happens in-side the office?

You will see a parking lot on left hand side & a single story building in front with extended portions on right side. The building has 3 areas where you have to go one-by-one;

1-Stamping (a small window in the middle of building) area
2-Jinnah Hall, this is the area where you will submit documents & will receive them later
3-Main building, interview with the senior officer (10 minutes max)

Please follow the sequence; i.e. Stamping, Jinnah Hall & Min Building

Step-1

Upon showing the documents which are to be attested, the officer will paste the stamps on the back of each document, pay him according;y.

Step-2

Go to Jinnah Hall, stand in que and wait for your turn (there are 2 separate windows for male & female visitors)

Submit the documents & obtain a Receipt from the officer. You may be asked to go to Main Office.

Step-3

Go to the main door of building from where you entered, go to the large wooden door which will most probably be closed. There is a small glass sliding window within this door. Knock on the glass and tell your number (hand written on receipt). You will be allowed to get inside and wait for your turn to me see the senior officer. He may ask the purpose of attestation.

Once through with this, you may leave and come again between 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm for document collection from Jinnah Hall.

Please remember, that staff is very cooperative. Only thing you need to practice is Patience. Most time consuming thing is to wait for your turn at Jinnah Hall as officers at window check each & every thing before receiving and people may argue or debate. So be patient, you will get your work done. InSha Allah.