Pakistan PTA/DIRBS Registration: 60 vs 120 Days
Does this apply to you? (a two-clock test, first screen)
Pakistan PTA mobile registration runs on two separate clocks, and most short trips end before either one closes. A device works for 60 days from first connectivity with zero registration (PTA DIRBS FAQ, pta.gov.pk, updated 14 October 2025). A free temporary registration can extend that to 120 days from the date of arrival (PTA temporary-registration SOP, pta.gov.pk, 23 July 2025). A two-week or one-month trip on one device never reaches either wall.
This page is for whoever does reach it. What a short trip actually needs — package, network, coverage — sits on the Pakistan destination page . This one covers multi-entry business travellers, long-stay visa holders, and overseas Pakistanis bringing a phone home on each visit. It also means anyone whose handset has already stopped connecting on a Pakistani network. Under 60 days on one device, none of the rest of this page applies to you yet — not the registration steps, not the blocked-device case, not the fee question. Read on only if your trip, or your device’s history in Pakistan, crosses one of the two lines below.
The two clocks: 60 days from connectivity, 120 days from arrival
PTA publishes the two numbers in two different documents. They start from two different events, not the same clock stated twice.
| Regime | Window | Starts from | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No registration (default) | 60 days | first connectivity — the device's first attach to a Pakistani network | PTA DIRBS FAQ | updated 14 October 2025 |
| Temporary registration (requested) | 120 days | date of arrival in Pakistan | PTA temporary-registration SOP | 23 July 2025 |
“After the expiry of aforesaid time-limit i.e. 60 days from first connectivity, such mobile devices shall…” — PTA DIRBS FAQ , updated 14 October 2025
“…allowed for a period of 120 days from date of arrival in Pakistan.” — PTA temporary-registration SOP , 23 July 2025
The 60-day figure is the default. Do nothing, and the device connects for free until day 60. DIRBS — the Device Identification, Registration and Blocking System — is PTA’s national IMEI database. It closes the device to service once that window ends. “First connectivity” is the device’s own first attach to a Pakistani network. It is the moment a SIM or eSIM in that handset first registers with a Pakistani operator — not the date stamped in a passport. The 120-day figure only applies once you actively request temporary registration. It is not a longer version of the same free ride. It is a separate status, with its own start date, its own document, and its own trigger event.
The 60-day clock: what happens when a device isn’t registered at all
Sixty days after a foreign device first connects to a Pakistani mobile network, DIRBS closes it to service — if it was never registered at all.
DIRBS reads every device’s IMEI against its database each time that device tries to attach to a network. A device that has never registered gets 60 days of free service by default. The count starts the day it first connects, not the day its owner lands in Pakistan.
“After the expiry of aforesaid time-limit i.e. 60 days from first connectivity, such mobile devices shall…” — PTA DIRBS FAQ , updated 14 October 2025
The FAQ’s own sentence continues past the fragment we quote here. The outcome PTA describes for this rule: the device stops receiving service on Pakistani networks once the 60-day window closes. Nothing in the FAQ ties this clock to a passport, a visa, or a length of stay. It tracks the device, from the moment it first talks to a Pakistani tower.
The 120-day clock: temporary registration, free of duty and tax
Temporary registration buys a device up to 120 days of legal use, counted from the date of arrival. PTA’s own SOP states this window is free of duty and tax.
“…allowed for a period of 120 days from date of arrival in Pakistan.” — PTA temporary-registration SOP , 23 July 2025
Unlike the 60-day default, temporary registration is a status you request through DIRBS, tied to the device’s IMEI. The SOP states it is available on each visit to Pakistan. A returning traveller can register temporarily again on a later trip, rather than using the option once and losing it for good. “Free” applies specifically to this 120-day window — no duty, no tax, for that period.
PTA’s FAQ separately references duty and tax administered by Pakistan’s Federal Board of Revenue. That applies to a device kept in use beyond what the free window covers, and neither document we hold states a figure for it. This page does not publish a number it cannot source. If you see a specific rupee amount for permanent registration elsewhere, treat it as unverified until PTA or FBR publish one on their own sites.
“Still works” is not “registered” — why the two numbers get confused
A phone that still connects on day 70 in Pakistan tells you nothing about whether it is registered. It only tells you that neither clock has closed yet.
The two starting events are different. The 60-day default counts from first connectivity — the day a SIM goes in and the device attaches to a network. The 120-day temporary registration counts from your date of arrival, and only runs at all once you have actively registered. A traveller who inserts a Pakistani SIM a week after landing starts a connectivity clock a week later than an entry-based clock would have. A device that completed temporary registration on day one stays compliant through day 120 measured from arrival. That is well past where the 60-day default would have closed an unregistered device.
Neither PTA document cross-references the other. The DIRBS FAQ does not say whether completing temporary registration replaces the 60-day connectivity default, extends it, or runs on a separate track entirely. Read literally, one document counts from first connectivity; the other counts from arrival. Which one governs a device that is both connected and registered is not stated in either PDF. This page does not guess at an answer neither source gives.
Where the two clocks disagree on what counts, treat your date of arrival as the safer point to count from. A device cannot attach to a Pakistani network before its owner has landed, so arrival typically falls on or before first connectivity, never after it. Counting from the earlier date is the more cautious assumption, even though PTA has not stated that either clock defers to the other.
A device that “still works” only proves neither number has run out. It is not proof a registration was ever filed.
If your device is already blocked, a travel eSIM will not un-block it
No. A travel eSIM roams on Pakistani networks over an IMEI that DIRBS already blocked. Installing a new eSIM profile changes the SIM, not the IMEI.
DIRBS blocking operates at the network level, shared across Pakistani mobile operators reading against the same IMEI database. A travel eSIM installs a new subscriber profile into a slot on the same physical handset. The handset’s IMEI — the hardware identifier DIRBS checks — does not change when a new SIM or eSIM profile is added. A device DIRBS has already closed to service stays closed on any SIM, local or roaming. The same check runs against the same identifier every time.
Neither PTA document spells out roaming traffic on a foreign eSIM by name. This is the mechanism as DIRBS’s own IMEI-based check reads, not a line PTA states for that specific case. Do not buy a travel eSIM expecting it to restore service to a phone DIRBS has already blocked. Turkey runs the same device-level logic through a different regulator, and the Turkish version has its own page .
What travellers report: repeat registration works, and an OTP trap
Travellers who repeat the temporary registration on each visit report it working. One of them names a trap neither PTA document mentions. The process needs an OTP, and a cut-off phone cannot receive one.
One overseas Pakistani laid out the whole sequence in October 2025. Registration in August, a month abroad on the same line, then a warning SMS.
“I was visiting Pakistan in August and did the temporary PTA registration for overseas Pakistanis, which allows phone use for 3 months. [...] This morning, I got an SMS from Jazz saying that my phone will be blocked because it’s not PTA approved.” — u/Reasonable-Bug-2317, r/PakistaniTech, 21 October 2025
Two replies in the same thread describe what happens next. The block bites inside Pakistan only: “They can only block it in Pakistan. It will work perfectly fine abroad” (u/fahad_tariq, r/PakistaniTech, 21 October 2025). And it clears on the next trip by repeating the same registration.
“And even if they do block when you comeback do the temporary registration again and it will start working again.... Doing this for past 3 years.” — u/unknown_falcon, r/PakistaniTech, 21 October 2025
That is a forum report, not a PTA statement. It sits alongside the SOP line about each visit. It is also the only dated account we hold of anyone running the cycle more than once. It does not settle the question the two PDFs leave open above.
The trap sits one step earlier. Temporary registration needs an OTP sent to a working Pakistani number. A device already closed to service has no way to receive one.
“Since there will be no coverage, how will I receive OPT. [...] Now I will go back to Pakistan and i guess there will be no coverage then how can I receive OPT for temporary registration process?” — u/Haroonpurdue, r/PakistaniTech, 12 February 2026
Nobody in the thread answered him, and neither PTA document covers the case. File the temporary registration while the handset still has service, not after the block lands. This reaches one group: someone bringing the same handset back on repeat visits. A single trip on a data-only travel eSIM never gets near it.
How registration actually works, and what we could not verify
Pakistan PTA mobile registration for the 120-day window runs through PTA’s DIRBS portal. We did not walk through it ourselves — the honest limit on what this page can describe.
Registration for the 120-day temporary status happens through PTA’s DIRBS registration system, dirbs.pta.gov.pk/drs. The portal did not resolve from our network on 12 August 2026. So this page describes the process from PTA’s two published PDFs, not from a completed run-through. We do not name a screen, a field label, or a button we have not actually seen. Everything above is drawn from the DIRBS FAQ and the temporary-registration SOP directly, both checked 12 August 2026: the 60-day default, the 120-day window, the duty-and-tax waiver. Nothing past that is stated as fact here.
FAQ
Before you decide
The short version of Pakistan’s PTA/DIRBS rules, before you act:
- Count the 60-day default from the day your device first connects to a Pakistani network, not from your entry date (PTA DIRBS FAQ, updated 14 October 2025).
- Count the 120-day temporary registration from your date of arrival — it only applies once you have actively registered (PTA temporary-registration SOP, 23 July 2025).
- Temporary registration is free of duty and tax. Permanent registration is not, and PTA has not published a figure for it.
- A device already blocked by DIRBS stays blocked on any SIM or eSIM, travel or local.
- Register while the phone still has service — the process needs an OTP to a working Pakistani number (u/Haroonpurdue, r/PakistaniTech, 12 February 2026).
- The DIRBS portal (dirbs.pta.gov.pk/drs) did not resolve from our network on 12 August 2026. Check both PDFs directly before you act.
Last verified against PTA’s DIRBS FAQ and temporary-registration SOP: 12 August 2026. Both documents are revised periodically. Community reports quoted on this page run from 21 October 2025 to 12 February 2026 and are witness accounts, not PTA statements. Recheck before you rely on either window.
Sources cited only — expert review pending. For individualized advice, consult a licensed professional.