Last Change:
04/16/2025
The Foreigners Act, 1946
Year: 1946
Type: Domestic law
Rights Category: Asylum
Description
An Act to confer upon the Federal Government certain powers in respect of foreigners.
Selected provisions
(1) The [Federal Government] may by order make provision, either generally or with respect to all foreigners or with respect to any particular foreigner or any prescribed class or description of foreigner, for prohibiting, regulating or restricting the entry of foreigners into [Pakistan] or their departure therefrom or their presence or continued presence therein.
(2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, orders made under this section may provide that the foreigner—
(a) shall not enter [Pakistan], or shall enter [Pakistan] only at such times and by such route and at such port or place and subject to the observance of such conditions on arrival as may be prescribed;
(b) shall not depart from [Pakistan], or shall depart only at such times and by such route and from such port or place and subject to the observance of such conditions on departure as may be prescribed;
(c) shall not remain in [Pakistan] or in any prescribed area therein;
(d) shall remove himself to, and remain in, such area in [Pakistan] as may be prescribed;
(e) shall comply with such conditions as may be prescribed or specified—
(i) requiring him to reside in a particular place;
(ii) imposing any restrictions on his movements;
(iii) requiring him to furnish such proof of his identity and to report such particulars to such authority in such manner and at such time and place as may be prescribed or specified;
(iv) requiring him to allow his photograph and finger impressions to be taken and to furnish specimens of his handwriting and signature to such authority and at such time and place as may be prescribed or specified;
(v) requiring him to submit himself to such medical examination by such authority and at such time and place as may be prescribed or specified;
(vi) prohibiting him from association with persons of a prescribed or specified description;
(vii) prohibiting him from engaging in activities of a prescribed or specified description;
(viii) prohibiting him from using or possessing prescribed or specified articles;
(ix) otherwise regulating his conduct in any such particular as may be prescribed or specified;
(f) shall enter into a bond with or without sureties for the due observance of, or as an alternative to the enforcement of, any or all prescribed or specified restrictions or conditions;
[(g) shall be arrested and in the interest of the defence or the external affairs or the security of Pakistan, or any part thereof, detained or confined.]
[(3) An order made under sub-section (2) may make provision for such incidental and supplementary matters as may, in the opinion of the [Federal Government], be expedient or necessary for giving effect to the provisions of this Act.
(4) The provisions of [clause (b) of sub-section (1) of sub-section 3 of the Security of Pakistan Act, 1952 (XXXV of 1952), and those of [sub-section (2) of section 6 and] section 6A of that Act, shall mutatis mutandis apply in relation to a person detained under this Act as they apply in relation to a person detained under that Act.]
Where any person contravenes any provisions of this Act or of any order made thereunder, or any direction given in pursuance of this Act or order, he shall, except as otherwise provided herein, be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine, and if such person has entered into a bond in pursuance of clause (f) of sub-section (2) of section 3, his bond shall liable to be forfeited, and any person bound thereby shall pay the penalty thereof, or show cause to the satisfaction of the convicting Court as to why such penalty should not be paid.
(2) Where any person knowingly enters into Pakistan illegally, he shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years and fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees.]
No foreigner who was in Pakistan on the date on which this Act came into force shall, while in Pakistan after that date, assume or use or purport to assume or use for any purpose any name other than that by which he was ordinarily known immediately before the said date.
(2) Where, after the date on which this Act came into force, any foreigner carries on or purports to carry on (whether along or in association with any other person) any trade or business under any name or style, other than that by which that trade or business was being carried on immediately before the said date, he shall, for the purposes of sub-section (1), be deemed to be using a name other than that by which he was ordinarily known immediately before the said date.
(3) In relation to any foreigner who, not having been in Pakistan on the date on which this Act came into force, thereafter enters Pakistan, sub-sections (1) and (2) shall have effect as if for any reference in those sub-sections to the date which this Act came into force there -were substituted a reference to the date on which the first enters Pakistan thereafter.
(4) For the purposes of this section:–
(a) the expression 'name' includes a surname, and
(b) a name shall be deemed to be changed if the spelling thereof is altered.
(5) Nothing in this section shall apply to the assumption or use:–
(a) of any name in pursuance of a by the Adaptation (Security Laws) Order, 1956, Sec. 4 (4) permission granted by the Federal Government; or
(b) by any married woman, of her husband's name.