A proposal has been submitted by the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) to the Pakistan government to make membership compulsory with the body. The membership will have a fees around Rs10,000.
The chairman of OPF Syed Qamar Raza told Khaleej Times in an interview “I believe all overseas Pakistanis should compulsorily be members of the OPF. If they all become members of the Foundation, then we can serve them better because we will have finances.”
He also said that the proposal has already been approved by the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development.
Now an approval is needed from the Prime Minister. The Rs10,000 fees are to be paid once in 5 years which is quite nominal.
It was pointed out by Raza that the non-profit foundation was created to address the challenges faced by Pakistanis living abroad. He also said they are looking to introduce a new host of facilities for the Pakistani diaspora.
This proposal if accepted will apply to all overseas regardless of where they are living be it UAE, the middle east, gulf countries or any other region in the world.
A critical role is played by overseas Pakistanis in the economy of the country but sending billions of dollars of investments and remittances.
In 2024-25 a record of $38.3 billion in remittances was made. It is expected that inlfows will keep on surpassing and reach a new all-time high of $41-42 billion.
It was also released by State Bank’s data that the workers’ remittances grew at a double-digit rate between July 2025 and February 2026.
This is an increase of 10.5 per cent to $26.5 billion compared to $24 billion received during the same period last year.
Also read: Overseas Pakistanis send $3.29 billion in remittances in February
