How to register an imported phone with the PTA
Register a phone from abroad through PTA's DIRBS on a passport or a CNIC, get the PSID with the official tax, and pay it within 7 days.
ptakaro is not part of the PTA or FBR. Registration is done on PTA’s DIRBS, and FBR sets the amount you pay. This guide walks through the official steps.
Before you start
- Check the phone first. If DIRBS already shows it as compliant, it is registered and you do not need to do anything; see how to check a phone.
- Note every IMEI. Dial *#06#. All IMEIs in the phone have to be registered, including the digital IMEI of an eSIM (DIRBS FAQs, questions 1, 10 and 11).
- Have a SIM in your name. The application asks for a mobile number issued on your passport or CNIC, and sends a one-time password to it (DIRBS FAQs, question 5; step by step guide, page 11).
- Be in Pakistan. The DIRBS registration website can only be reached from Pakistan, and there are no registration counters at airports (DIRBS FAQs).
Where to apply
You can apply in three ways (DIRBS FAQs, question 5; DIRBS SOP, clause 17.2):
- online, on PTA’s Device Registration System (DRS);
- by dialling *8484# from a phone with a local SIM;
- at a service centre or franchise of any mobile operator.
On the DRS website you first create an account. A Pakistani applicant gives their full name, mobile number, email, city, postal address, CNIC number, passport number and a password; a foreign applicant gives their full name, phone number, email, postal address, passport number and a password (step by step guide, pages 5 and 6).
Passport or CNIC
- Passport (international traveller). For a phone you brought in your accompanied baggage, within 60 days of arriving in Pakistan. You enter your passport number, your CNIC or NICOP if you have one, the SIM number issued on your passport, CNIC or NICOP, and the phone’s IMEIs (DIRBS FAQs, question 5; CGO 01 of 2019, paragraph 2-A).
- CNIC (local applicant). You enter your CNIC, the SIM number issued on your CNIC, and the phone’s IMEIs (DIRBS FAQs, question 5).
After the 60 days, a traveller pays the duty and taxes plus a “prescribed fine” (CGO 01 of 2019, paragraph 2-A). Trying to register on a passport after the 60 days gives the error “entered passport is not eligible for tax exemption” (DIRBS FAQs, registration verification, question 7). Our guide to how PTA tax works explains why the two routes cost different amounts.
Get the PSID and check it
FBR’s WeBOC system works out the duty and taxes for your application and issues a payment slip ID (PSID), valid for 7 days (DIRBS FAQs, question 5; DIRBS SOP, clauses 17.3 and 17.4). The message with the PSID also gives the phone’s model and manufacturer. Check that they match your phone before you pay: PTA can block a phone whose details do not match, even after the duty is paid, and does not refund it (DIRBS SOP, clauses 17.11 to 17.13).
The amount on the PSID is the official one. Our calculator gives an estimate, and if the two differ, the PSID is the one that counts. PTA’s FAQs say tax questions go to FBR, and FBR’s WeBOC Mobile Device Duty Information page is where PTA’s FAQs send you to look up the duty for a phone.
Pay within 7 days
You can pay the PSID through online banking, ATM, mobile banking or a bank branch (CGO 01 of 2019, paragraph 2-A; DIRBS SOP, clause 17.4). The payment reaches FBR through 1-Link, and your application then moves from “Pending” to “Approved” (DIRBS FAQs, question 6). If you do not pay within 7 days, the PSID is deleted and you have to apply again (DIRBS FAQs, PSID question 1). Make sure you pay against your own PSID: PTA says a payment made against someone else’s PSID is not within its mandate to resolve or refund, and that you would have to take it up with FBR (DIRBS FAQs, PSID question 11).
From 1 July 2026, the Finance Act allows the tax on a phone registered through DIRBS to be paid in instalments “as may be prescribed” (Finance Act 2026, section 4(20), adding sub-clause (vi) to the Sales Tax Act’s Ninth Schedule). We have not found an official procedure for it yet.
Limits and special cases
- Five a year. One person can register up to five phones in a calendar year (DIRBS FAQs, question 15; DIRBS SOP, clause 17.9).
- Phones sent by post or courier. You generate the PSID by applying through DIRBS, and customs releases the phone once you show proof of payment and the IMEI is registered (CGO 01 of 2019, paragraph 2-C).
- Short visits. Overseas Pakistanis and foreign nationals on a short visit can instead register one phone temporarily, for up to 120 days from arrival. It then works only with the SIM issued in their name that they applied with (DIRBS FAQs, temporary registration, questions 2, 6 and 7). PTA’s user’s guide links to it.
- Problems after paying. For a deleted PSID, a wrong IMEI or other registration issues, PTA’s FAQs point to its complaint management system at complaint.pta.gov.pk (DIRBS FAQs).