Deadline for Afghan POR card holders extended to Sept 1

KABUL (Pajhwok): Pakistan has extended the deadline for Afghan refugees holding Proof of Registration (POR) cards until September 1, a media report said on Wednesday.

On July 31, the Ministry of Interior of Pakistan said the legal validity of all refugee documentation, including POR cards, had expired on June 30, 2025.

The ministry said that holders of these cards would now be considered “illegal” residents and must leave the country.

However, the federal government has informed the provinces that the formal repatriation and deportation of over 1.3 million Afghan refugees holding PoR cards will begin on September 1, Dawn reported.

The voluntary return of the documented refugees shall commence forthwith, said a Pakistan’s interior ministry order seen by Reuters. It said the formal deportation process will start after the deadline.

But Qaisar Khan Afridi, UNHCR spokesman in Pakistan, told Reuters on Wednesday that hundreds of legally registered Afghan refugees had already been detained and deported to Afghanistan from August 1 to August 4.

The interior ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for a comment.

More than 1.3 million Afghans hold documentation known as PoR cards, while 750,000 more have another form of registration known as an Afghan Citizen Card.

Pakistani authorities have said that Islamabad wants all Afghan nationals to leave, except for those who have valid visas.

On Tuesday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) voiced concern over Pakistan’s intention to forcibly deport Afghan refugees holding POP cards.

The agency said that it had received reports of arrests and expulsions of legally registered Afghans across the country before Pakistan’s September 1 deadline for them to leave.

kk/ma