Overseas Pakistanis sending money home have historically had two options: support relatives, or buy property. Both remain common. Both are also where most of the losses happen — property because of title fraud, and family transfers because informal arrangements are unenforceable.
There are now more options, and the differences between them are worth understanding before you commit.
Start with a proper channel
The single most important decision is not what you invest in. It is that the money arrives through formal banking channels, in your own name.
Money remitted to a relative's account and invested "on your behalf" is not your investment in any sense a court will readily enforce. When the relationship sours — and over a decade it sometimes does — you will be asserting a beneficial interest with no documentation, against someone whose name is on everything.
We litigate these cases. They are difficult, expensive, and they destroy families. The remittance advice and an asset in your own name prevent all of it.
Roshan Digital Accounts
The Roshan Digital Account framework allows non-resident Pakistanis and holders of NICOP or POC to open a Pakistani bank account remotely, without travelling, and to operate it from abroad.
It is the practical gateway to most of the other options: it lets you hold funds in Pakistan in your own name, and it is designed so that funds brought in through it — and returns on them — can be repatriated.
For anyone intending to invest here from abroad, this is the sensible starting point rather than routing money through relatives.
Government certificates
Certificates issued for non-resident investors offer a fixed return, in rupees or in foreign currency, over defined tenors, and are typically accessible through a Roshan account.
The considerations are the ordinary ones for fixed-income:
- Currency. A rupee-denominated return can be attractive nominally and less so once converted, depending on the exchange rate over your holding period.
- Tenor and liquidity. Understand the early-encashment terms before you commit.
- Tax treatment, which differs by instrument and by residency status.
Rates, tenors and terms change. Check the current position with the bank rather than relying on an article.
Listed shares
Non-residents can invest in listed Pakistani equities, generally through a Roshan account with an associated investor account.
The legal points that matter: hold the securities in your own name, keep the account documentation current, and understand the tax on dividends and on capital gains for a non-resident, including whether a double taxation treaty with your country of residence applies.
Property: the highest risk, still the most popular
Property remains the default for overseas Pakistanis, and it carries the greatest exposure to fraud of any asset available to you.
The essential discipline is covered in buying property in Pakistan as a non-resident — your own lawyer, title investigated before payment, banking channels only, registration and mutation completed, and possession secured.
Two additional points specific to investment.
Files and plots. A large share of "property investment" in Pakistan is trading in files — allotment or booking documents for plots in projects, some of which are not developed for years and some of which never are. A file is a contractual right against a developer, not title to land, and it is only as good as the developer's ability and willingness to deliver.
Before buying a file, establish who the developer is and what they have actually completed before, whether the project holds the required approvals, whether the land is owned by the project or merely optioned, and what the file entitles you to if the project stalls. Many do stall.
Empty property is a liability. An unoccupied house or plot owned by someone abroad is the most likely asset in Pakistan to be occupied. If you buy, decide in advance who is responsible for it.
Investing in a business
Putting money into a relative's or friend's business is common and rarely documented.
If you are funding a business, decide whether you are lending or taking equity, and document it accordingly — a loan agreement with terms, or shares properly issued and recorded with the SECP. "Sending money and being a partner" is not a legal position, and it is worth nothing when the business succeeds without you or fails with your money in it.
See registering a business in Pakistan for the structures available.
Documentation to have in place first
- Current CNIC or NICOP — everything depends on it, and blocked records stall transactions. See what to do when your CNIC is blocked.
- A bank account in your own name in Pakistan
- A power of attorney to a specific person, for specific acts — see giving a power of attorney from abroad
- A plan for succession, so the assets do not become the estate your children litigate over. See gift, will or sale.
That last point is consistently ignored, and it is why so much overseas investment ends up in court a generation later.
A note on returns
We are lawyers, not investment advisers, and nothing here is financial advice. What we can tell you is which structures are enforceable, what documentation protects you, and what the recurring frauds look like — which is usually the information that actually determines whether an investment survives.
How the firm can help
We advise overseas Pakistanis on holding assets in Pakistan securely: title investigation and property purchase, corporate structuring and documentation for business investment, powers of attorney, and succession planning so assets pass as you intend.
We also act when something has gone wrong — property occupied or fraudulently transferred, funds sent to a relative and not accounted for, or an investment in a business that was never documented. See our work for overseas Pakistanis.
Contact the firm before you commit funds. It is considerably cheaper than the litigation that follows an informal arrangement.