Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority has made iris scanning available without charge at every NADRA registration center in the country. The authority is encouraging citizens to add iris records as another way to secure and verify their identities.
The service is available to adults and children aged three and older. NADRA has advised parents to bring eligible children to a registration center so their biometric records can be updated with iris data.
Iris recognition analyzes the distinctive pattern in the colored portion of the eye. Unlike a fingerprint, an iris can generally be captured without physical contact, and adding it to an identity record can provide an alternative when fingerprints are difficult to collect or match.
NADRA described the nationwide service in a public awareness message and said it is intended to improve the accuracy, security and reliability of future identity verification. The authority did not announce that an iris scan is mandatory, nor did it specify a deadline for citizens to use the free service.
The expansion fits Pakistan’s national biometric policy framework, which treats fingerprints, facial images and iris data as components of a multimodal identity system. The policy calls for stronger quality controls, interoperability and protections around biometric collection and matching.
NADRA has already been extending multimodal capture beyond conventional registration counters. Its portable all-in-one digital identity kit supports fingerprints, facial images and iris capture for field enrollment, while the agency’s mobile services have added digital ID storage and facial verification in the Pak ID app.
Making enrollment free at every center could broaden the availability of iris templates across the national identity database. The operational benefit will depend on which downstream services are equipped to request and match the modality, a point the awareness message did not detail.
The public notice also did not state how citizens can check whether an iris record is already associated with their identity, whether a new scan replaces an older template or how frequently records should be refreshed. NADRA’s general privacy and security obligations continue to apply to the biometric data.
The announcement follows a period of increased attention to identity-system resilience in Pakistan. NADRA recently opened a bug bounty challenge for its digital infrastructure and has been promoting multiple verification options for citizens who encounter difficulty with fingerprint matching.
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
