Guides · PSW registration
The profile that has to exist before a declaration can be filed.
Shafiq Traders · Updated 13 September 2026
PSW registration is the step that comes before any declaration, not alongside it. It has two parts: a subscription that identifies you to the system against your NTN or FTN, and a separate registration with Customs as a Trader, which is what actually lets a declaration be filed against your name. An importer registers as a Trader; a clearing agent registers separately as a Customs Agent. Both have to exist, correctly, before a Goods Declaration for your consignment can go in. Pakistan does not issue a general import licence — this registration, alongside an NTN and a sales tax registration where one applies, is what stands in its place.
Two registrations, not one
The subscription is the first gate: you give PSW your NTN or FTN, a CNIC, and a mobile number, and the system checks them against FBR and NADRA. That gets you a login. It does not get you the ability to file anything.
Filing needs a second, separate registration with Customs through the PSW portal — as a Trader, if you are the importer, or as a Customs Agent, if you are the one filing on someone else's behalf. Your agent's customs licence is validated in that second step, tied to a licence number. Your own trader registration is a different form, tied to your business name and address. One does not stand in for the other, and a consignment can sit waiting on either.
What actually happens, in order
Every stage has to clear before the next one starts. None of it can be done out of sequence.
Subscribe with your NTN or FTN
Validating the NTN pulls your STRN, company name, principal activity and CNIC straight from the FBR database. Whatever is wrong in that record comes across wrong here too.
Verify the mobile number and email by OTP
The mobile number has to be the one registered against that CNIC. A shared office SIM or a bookkeeper's phone fails this step.
Complete biometric verification at NADRA e-Sahulat
In person, with the CNIC and the Application ID PSW issued. There is no remote or delegated way to do this.
Register with Customs as a Trader
Business name, address, city and a Commercial or Non-Commercial sub-type, plus an authority letter if the business has more than one director or partner.
Physical verification, only if biometric did not clear
Worn or faded fingerprints send the file to a physical appearance before the AC/DC of the collectorate on the registration. Nothing files until that appearance happens.
What the trader profile actually carries
| Field | Where it comes from | Why it matters later |
|---|---|---|
| Business name and address | Fetched from the FBR record against your NTN | Has to agree with what your invoices and bank documents say, or a query gets raised comparing them |
| STRN | Pulled automatically once the NTN validates | Links your sales tax registration to the same profile a declaration is filed under |
| Commercial or Non-Commercial sub-type | Selected on the registration form | Sets how the profile is read by Customs downstream; it is not a formality |
| City and collectorate | Selected on the registration form | Decides which AC/DC you appear before if physical verification is ever needed |
What registering actually costs
One fee, paid once, to PSW itself. It has nothing to do with what a clearing agent charges for a shipment.
- PSW subscription feePKR 500on One-time, non-refundable, per subscriber · PSW Subscription Rules
Checked 13 September 2026 against Pakistan Single Window — Subscription and Registration with Customs. Rates move at the budget and by SRO in between, so confirm the current figure with us before you price a consignment on it.
Where a registration mistake actually shows up
Almost never at registration itself — the system will take a wrong address or a mismatched sub-type without complaining. It shows up later, when a declaration is being prepared against a business name that does not match the invoice, or when Non-Commercial is on file for a company now importing on a commercial scale.
The other one is simpler and harder to fix quickly: biometric verification that does not clear cleanly, for whatever reason, sends the file to physical appearance before an AC/DC. That appointment sits on the collectorate's calendar, not yours, and no declaration gets filed against that profile until it happens. Get this done while a shipment is still on order, not after it has sailed.
We can prepare every document in your file, chase an STRN, and sit with you through a query. We cannot walk into a NADRA e-Sahulat counter and complete your biometric verification for you. That step belongs to the person the system is verifying, by law, and it is the one part of this registration that is genuinely yours to do.
Questions
What importers ask about PSW registration
Contact
Tell us what is coming.
Give us the product, the port and roughly when the vessel is due, and we will tell you what the clearance involves and what it will cost.