Branch and Liaison Office Registration in Pakistan for Foreign Companies

BOI grants permission to foreign companies to open both types of office. Its page describes them this way:

• A branch office is set up by a foreign company to fulfil its contractual obligations with the public or private sector in Pakistan. Its activity is limited to the work in the signed agreement or contract.
• A liaison office is set up to promote the company’s products, give technical advice and assistance, explore joint collaboration and promote exports.

BOI states that neither type of office can undertake commercial or trading activities. A foreign company that plans to trade in Pakistan needs a different structure, such as a company incorporated in Pakistan. That route is covered on our company registration in Pakistan page.

BOI also grants permission for a sub-office of a branch office or of a liaison office, for a separate fee (see the fees below).

BOI’s page lists these documents for a new application:

• the application form, filled in, signed and stamped;
• a copy of the company’s registration, attested by the Pakistan embassy;
• a copy of the memorandum and articles of association, attested by the Pakistan embassy;
• a copy of the company’s resolution or authority letter to open the branch or liaison office in Pakistan;
• a company profile;
• the CV of the person authorised to act for the company, with a copy of that person’s passport or CNIC; and
• for a branch office only, a copy of the contract or agreement.

BOI asks for one original set and five copies of all the documents, with a soft copy by email. In June 2020 BOI also launched an online system for these applications, the Branch Liaison Management Information System (BLMIS). Check with BOI which channel it expects before you send the documents.

BOI fees

BOI publishes the following fees. Its page notes that its service fees were revised or levied with effect from 1 January 2017.

The fee is paid in US dollars, or the equivalent in Pakistani rupees, into BOI’s account at the National Bank of Pakistan, Main Branch, Civic Centre, Islamabad. BOI’s page gives the account details. Confirm the amount and the account with BOI before you pay, because the published figures date from 2017.

Evaluation and timing

Once BOI has the documents, it examines them and circulates them to the concerned quarters for their comments, views or no-objection certificates. BOI states that it issues the permission after a period of seven weeks.

The permission can be cancelled if adverse remarks are reported, or if a concerned quarter does not support the no-objection certificate at a later stage.

BOI issues the permission for a period of one to five years. It can be renewed if the required documents and fees are provided.

Part XII of the Companies Act 2017 applies to foreign companies, meaning companies incorporated or formed outside Pakistan, that establish a place of business in Pakistan (section 434). A “place of business” includes a branch, a management office, a share transfer or registration office, a factory, a mine or any other fixed place of business (section 445(c)).

Within thirty days of establishing the place of business, or of starting business activity, the company must deliver to the registrar (section 435(1)):

• a certified copy of its charter, statute or memorandum and articles, or other document that sets out its constitution, with a certified translation into English or Urdu if it is in another language;
• the full address of its registered or principal office;
• a list of its directors, chief executive and secretary (if any), with the particulars that section 435(2) requires;
• a return with the particulars of its principal officer in Pakistan, including that officer’s full address in Pakistan;
• the particulars of one or more persons resident in Pakistan who are authorised to accept service of process and notices for the company, with their consent; and
• the full address of the office in Pakistan that is to be treated as its principal place of business in Pakistan.

“Certified” means certified in the specified manner to be a true copy or a correct translation (section 445(a)).

Some activity does not create a place of business. An agent counts only if the agent has, and habitually exercises, a general authority to negotiate and conclude contracts for the company, or keeps a stock of its goods from which orders are regularly filled. Dealing through a bona fide broker or general commission agent, in the ordinary course of that agent’s business, does not by itself establish a place of business. Nor does having a subsidiary in Pakistan: the subsidiary’s place of business does not, of itself, become the foreign company’s own (section 445(c)).

The filing under section 435 is not a one-time step. The Act sets out duties that continue for as long as the office is open:

• Changes: if the constitution, the principal office, the directors, chief executive or secretary, the principal officer in Pakistan, the persons authorised to accept service, or the principal place of business in Pakistan change, the company files a return within thirty days of the change (section 436).
• Annual accounts: every year the company files financial statements with the registrar, with a list of its Pakistani members and debenture-holders and of its places of business in Pakistan. The statements cover its operations in Pakistan as if they were run by a separate public company registered in Pakistan. The deadline is forty-five days after the documents are filed with the public authority in the home country, or one hundred and eighty days after the date to which the accounts are made up, whichever is earlier (section 437).
• Register: the company keeps a register of its Pakistani members and debenture-holders, directors and officers at its principal place of business in Pakistan (section 438(a)).
• Name and country on display: the company’s name and the country where it is incorporated are shown on the outside of every place where it carries on business in Pakistan, and on its bill-heads, letter paper, notices and other official publications. If its members’ liability is limited, that fact is stated too (section 438(c) to (e)).
• Information requests: the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) may require a foreign company to provide information on its shareholding, including beneficial ownership (section 439).

Documents for the company can be served on the persons whose names were filed under section 435, at the address filed (section 440). That is one more reason to keep the filing up to date.

BOI renews permission for one to five years, based on the company’s request. Its page lists these renewal documents:

• Branch office: copies of valid contract agreements with their duration; income tax returns for the last three years; the latest audited financial statement; and proceeds realization certificates. The renewal charge is US$1,000 for each year.
• Liaison office: a performance or activity report; a receipt and payment statement; and proceeds realization certificates. The renewal charge is US$500 for each year.

A foreign company that intends to stop having any place of business in Pakistan must, at least thirty days before it does so (section 443(1)):

• give notice of that intention to the registrar; and
• publish a notice of it in at least two daily newspapers circulating in the province or provinces where its places of business are.

From the date stated in the notice, the duty to deliver documents to the registrar ends, as long as the company has no other place of business in Pakistan (section 443(2)).

Missing the section 435 or section 436 filing does not make the company’s contracts invalid, and the company can still be sued on them. But it cannot bring a suit, claim a set-off, make a counter-claim or start legal proceedings on those contracts until it has complied with both sections (section 441). For a foreign company that may need to enforce a contract in Pakistan, this matters.

A company that fails to comply with any provision of Part XII other than section 439, and every officer or agent of the company who authorises or permits the default, is liable to a penalty of level 1 on the standard scale (section 444(1)). A failure to give the information SECP asks for under section 439 carries its own penalty.

The Act’s rules on company names in sections 10 to 13 also apply, as far as applicable, to foreign companies (section 442). A name on the companies register is not a registered trade mark. To protect a brand in Pakistan, the owner applies to register it as a trade mark with the Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan (IPO-Pakistan).

Our guide to Pakistan trademark filing for foreign applicants explains what an overseas owner provides. A trademark search and clearance review helps assess whether a name is likely to be available before launch. The official fees are in our trademark registration cost and timeline guide.

At Raza & Associates, Hashim Raza is a Registered Trade Mark Agent with IPO-Pakistan (Trade Marks Registry), registration No. TM-215/20, on the Register of Trade Mark Agents since 25 January 2019.

1. Decide between a branch office and a liaison office, based on what the office will do in Pakistan.
2. Collect the documents BOI lists, with embassy attestation where BOI asks for it.
3. Apply to BOI and pay the fee.
4. Allow for BOI’s evaluation: BOI states that permission issues after seven weeks.
5. Within thirty days of establishing the office, deliver the section 435 documents to the registrar.
6. File changes within thirty days, and the annual accounts within the section 437 period.
7. Apply to renew the BOI permission before it expires.

Time limits at a glance

This guide is based on the official sources below. Each was checked on 13 October 2026.

• Board of Investment, Branch/Liaison Office: the two types of office, the documents, the fees (revised or levied with effect from 1 January 2017), evaluation, the seven-week period, the permission period and renewal.
• Board of Investment, news item of 26 June 2020 on the launch of three online portals, including the Branch Liaison Management Information System (BLMIS).
• Companies Act 2017 (Act No. XIX of 2017), as published in the Gazette of Pakistan, Extraordinary, on 31 May 2017 (copy hosted by the Federal Board of Revenue): Part XII, sections 434 to 445.

Raza & Associates is an intellectual property and corporate law firm, established in 2005, with its head office in Lahore and offices in London and Singapore.

For incorporating a company in Pakistan, see company registration in Pakistan. Foreign companies and overseas law firms with intellectual property matters in Pakistan can instruct the firm through Pakistan IP local counsel for foreign companies and law firms. To discuss a matter, contact us.

This guide summarises the Board of Investment’s Branch/Liaison Office page and its June 2020 announcement of the BLMIS portal, as read on 13 October 2026, and Part XII of the Companies Act 2017 as enacted (2017 Gazette text); check later amendments and SECP’s regulations and forms with the registrar (see the official sources above). Fees and procedures change, so check them with BOI and the registrar before you file. This guide is not legal advice on any particular matter.