Service
Foreign Company Registration
We register foreign companies with the SECP under Part XII of the Companies Act, 2017 — branch and liaison offices, Board of Investment permissions, and the banking and repatriation groundwork that follows. Fixed scope, one point of contact, honest timelines.
A foreign company that establishes a place of business in Pakistan does not become a Pakistani company. It registers as what it is — a foreign company — under Part XII of the Companies Act, 2017, and it operates a branch or liaison office under permission from the Board of Investment. It is a different legal animal from a local subsidiary, with different filings, banking, and exchange-control treatment. Most of the trouble we are asked to fix begins with someone treating the three structures as interchangeable.
Our work starts before the first form. We ask what the office will actually do, because the answer is load-bearing: a liaison office that signs a sales contract has exceeded its permission, and a branch that drifts outside its permitted scope has the same problem in a more expensive form. When the honest answer is "build a business here," we usually say so plainly and recommend incorporating a subsidiary instead — a route we handle under our SECP advisory practice.
Where a branch or liaison office is right, we run the sequence end to end: the BOI application, the SECP registration with certified parent documents, the principal officer and service-of-process appointments, the bank account with an authorised dealer, and the tax registrations. The honest constraint at the centre of this service is that BOI clearance runs on the government's clock; we manage it with a complete application, active follow-up, and regular reporting.
The last deliverable matters as much as the first. Repatriation of profits and the funding of the office run through the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947 and State Bank of Pakistan practice, and a registered office that cannot lawfully move money is not much use to its parent. We close every engagement with a written repatriation memo and a compliance calendar, so the office you open in month one is still in good standing in year three. As of July 2026, the statutory references and filing windows on this page are stated generally; exact sections and timelines are marked for verification by the reviewing lawyer.
What You Get
The deliverables, stated up front.
- A written recommendation on structure — branch office, liaison office, or local subsidiary — with the trade-offs for your specific activity set out in plain terms.
- Preparation and filing of the Board of Investment permission application for a branch or liaison office, including the supporting justification.
- Registration of the foreign company with the SECP under Part XII of the Companies Act, 2017, with all prescribed particulars and certified documents.
- Certified and, where required, translated copies of the parent company's charter documents prepared to the registrar's standard.
- Appointment paperwork for the principal officer and the person in Pakistan authorised to accept service of notices.
- A bank-account opening pack and introductions to the authorised dealer bank that will handle inward remittances.
- A plain-language memo on repatriation of profits and office expenses under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947 and State Bank practice.
- A twelve-month compliance calendar covering SECP returns, BOI renewal dates, and tax registrations.
How It Works
The process, stage by stage.
1
Structure call
We start with what you actually want to do in Pakistan — sell, execute a contract, explore the market, or hire a team. That answer usually decides the structure. A liaison office cannot earn revenue; a branch can, within the scope of its permission; a subsidiary is a separate Pakistani company. We put the recommendation in writing before any filing.
2
BOI permission
Branch and liaison offices require permission from the Board of Investment before they operate. We prepare the application, the parent-company documents, and the activity justification. The application is circulated to government departments for clearance, and processing time is not within our or your control; we track it and report at each step.
3
SECP registration
Once a place of business is established, the foreign company must deliver its registration documents to the SECP within the statutory window under Part XII [SECTION AND TIMELINE — TO BE VERIFIED BY REVIEWING LAWYER]. We prepare the charter documents, director particulars, principal officer appointment, and address filings, and follow the registration to certificate.
4
Banking and tax setup
We coordinate the opening of the office's bank account with an authorised dealer, National Tax Number registration, and any provincial registrations the activity requires, so the office can lawfully receive remittances and pay staff.
5
Handover and calendar
You receive a closing binder — permissions, the SECP certificate, filed forms, and a compliance calendar listing every recurring SECP, BOI, and tax deadline with the responsible person named.
The Legal Framework
The law this work runs on.
- Companies Act, 2017 — Part XII
- Governs foreign companies that establish a place of business in Pakistan: registration with the SECP, prescribed particulars, ongoing returns, and the obligation to file the parent's accounts. Specific sections and filing windows will be confirmed by the reviewing lawyer before this page publishes.
- Foreign Companies Regulations, 2018 [TO BE VERIFIED BY REVIEWING LAWYER]
- SECP regulations prescribing the forms and documentary requirements for Part XII registration and subsequent filings.
- Board of Investment permission regime
- Branch and liaison offices operate under BOI permission, granted for a fixed period and renewable. The permitted scope of activity is stated on the face of the permission, and exceeding it is a compliance breach. Permission periods and renewal mechanics: [TO BE VERIFIED BY REVIEWING LAWYER].
- Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947
- With the State Bank of Pakistan's Foreign Exchange Manual, this controls remittances into and out of Pakistan — including repatriation of branch profits and the funding of liaison office expenses from abroad.
Statutory references are stated as of the page’s as-of date and flagged where verification is pending; the law moves, and the current position should be confirmed before relying on it.
Common Mistakes
The errors we see most — and their price.
- Choosing a liaison office to save cost, then invoicing a Pakistani customer through it — activity a liaison office is not permitted to carry on.
- Starting operations before the BOI permission issues, on the assumption that the SECP registration alone is enough.
- Missing the statutory window for delivering registration documents to the SECP after establishing a place of business.
- Letting the BOI permission lapse because no one diarised the renewal, leaving the office without legal cover mid-contract.
- Assuming branch profits can be wired out freely — repatriation runs through an authorised dealer under State Bank rules, with tax clearance in order.
- Filing parent-company documents without proper certification or translation, and losing weeks to registrar objections.
- Registering a branch when a local subsidiary would have been simpler, cheaper to run, and easier to bank.
Questions, Answered
What clients ask about foreign company registration.
It turns on activity and horizon. A liaison office suits market study and promotion only — it cannot earn revenue. A branch suits a foreign company executing a specific contract or licensed activity in Pakistan. A subsidiary — a Pakistani private limited company — suits anyone building a lasting local business, and in most sectors it can be wholly foreign-owned as of July 2026. We give you the comparison in writing before you commit.
We will not quote a number we cannot stand behind. The application is circulated to other government departments for clearance, and timelines vary case by case [TYPICAL PROCESSING RANGE — TO BE VERIFIED BY REVIEWING LAWYER]. What we control, we do quickly: a complete, well-documented application avoids the most common cause of delay.
Yes, subject to the foreign exchange regime. Remittances of branch profits go through an authorised dealer bank under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947 and State Bank instructions, with taxes settled first. A liaison office has nothing to repatriate — its expenses are funded by inward remittance from the parent.
Charter documents not in English must be filed with a certified translation, and copies must be certified in the prescribed manner. Getting this right the first time is one of the quiet ways an experienced filer saves you a month.
The registered foreign company files returns with the SECP when its particulars change and files the parent's accounts on the prescribed cycle, alongside its tax filings and BOI renewals. Our engagement includes a compliance calendar; we can also run the filings under a separate corporate secretarial retainer.
Fees are fixed by engagement letter after the structure call, and government charges are itemised separately. [FEE STRUCTURE — TO BE CONFIRMED BY THE FIRM]
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Prepared by The First Counsel · As of 2026-07-12 · Pending professional review — statements flagged in the text are being verified
This publication is provided for general information only. It is not legal advice, and neither reading it nor corresponding with the firm about it creates a lawyer–client relationship. The position stated must be verified against current law before it is relied upon.