If you want to check eligibility for government schemes in Pakistan, almost every check starts with your CNIC. This hub gathers every official check in one place: BISP and Ehsaas eligibility on 8171, Sehat Card eligibility on 8500, what your PMT score means, how the NSER survey decides your record, and how domicile and education decide your eligibility for government jobs.
Every method below is free and official. No agent, shop or website can check your eligibility better than these channels, and no genuine check ever asks you to pay money or share your CNIC with a stranger. Work through the section that matches what you want to check.
Every Eligibility Check at a Glance
Check | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| BISP / Ehsaas on 8171 | Whether your household is eligible for cash assistance |
| NSER survey and PMT score | The record and score behind most welfare decisions |
| Sehat Card on 8500 | Whether your family is covered for hospital treatment |
| Provincial scheme checks | Punjab, Sindh, KP and Balochistan scheme eligibility |
| Job eligibility | Whether your domicile and education fit a government job |
Check BISP and Ehsaas Eligibility by CNIC on 8171
The 8171 service is the official eligibility check for BISP and the programmes running under the Ehsaas umbrella. Send your 13-digit CNIC number, without dashes, by SMS to 8171 from your own mobile, or enter the same number on the official portal at 8171.bisp.gov.pk. The reply tells you whether your household is eligible, whether your survey record exists, or whether you need to visit a BISP office. The check itself does not register you: registration happens through the NSER survey at BISP tehsil offices, and it is free. Our BISP Kafaalat guide and Ehsaas Program guide walk through each reply message and what to do next, including the case where the reply says your record is not found.
The NSER Survey and Your PMT Score Explained
Behind the 8171 reply sits the National Socio-Economic Registry, the household survey that scores families with a Proxy Means Test, shortened to PMT. The score is the gate for most welfare schemes in Pakistan: BISP Kafaalat generally works to a cut-off around 32, with higher bands accepted in some areas and categories, the Himmat Card works to a PMT of 45 or below, and Punjab’s Apni Chhat Apna Ghar works to 60 or below. If your household has never been surveyed, or your circumstances have changed since the survey, visit your tehsil BISP office and ask for the dynamic survey update; it is free, and it is the only way the record changes. Nobody can raise or lower your PMT score for a fee, whatever they promise.
Check Sehat Card Eligibility by SMS on 8500
Health coverage runs on a separate check. Send your CNIC number by SMS to 8500 and the reply confirms whether your family is covered under the Sehat Sahulat Programme or, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sehat Card Plus. There is no separate card to collect for most families: your CNIC itself works as the health card at panel hospitals, and admitted treatment is covered up to the programme limits. Our Health Schemes hub collects the federal and provincial health pages, including the Balochistan Health Card, so you can read the limits and the hospital rules for your own province before you need them.
Check Eligibility for Provincial Schemes
Many of the largest schemes are provincial, and each carries its own eligibility test: Punjab checks Punjab domicile and, for several schemes, your PMT band; Sindh’s programmes work from Sindh domicile and district lists; Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s health coverage is universal for KP families; and Balochistan’s health card covers families whose record sits in Balochistan. Start from your own province hub, Punjab Schemes, Sindh Schemes, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Schemes or Balochistan Schemes, and read the eligibility section of the scheme you want before travelling to any office. The scheme page tells you the exact documents that province asks for.
Check Your Eligibility for Government Jobs
Job eligibility turns on three things: your domicile, your education, and your age on the date the advertisement fixes. A Balochistan domicile drive, for example, is closed to everyone else no matter how strong the rest of the application is, and a post that asks for a Bachelor’s degree cannot be taken on Intermediate. To make this easy, our job guides are organised by education level: Matric base jobs, Intermediate base jobs and Bachelor degree jobs each list what is open at that level right now, and the Jobs hub carries every announcement in one place. Check the level first, then the domicile line in the advertisement, then the age limit, in that order.
Documents Every Eligibility Check Needs
Keep one folder ready and every check becomes faster: your own CNIC, the CNICs of your spouse and family members for household schemes, your domicile certificate for jobs and provincial schemes, your education documents for job applications, and a mobile number that is registered and active, because SMS replies and shortlist calls come to it. For household schemes the woman’s CNIC is usually the record that matters, since payments are made to women; if her CNIC has expired, renew it at NADRA before checking, because an expired card stalls both the check and the payment.
If the Check Says You Are Not Eligible
A not-eligible reply is information, not a final verdict on your family. Read exactly what it says: some replies mean your survey is missing or old, some mean your PMT score sits above that scheme’s cut-off while you may still qualify for another scheme with a higher band, and some mean a document, usually the CNIC or domicile, needs correction first. The fixes are all official and free: a dynamic survey update at the BISP tehsil office, a CNIC correction at NADRA, or a domicile correction at your district office. What never helps is paying an agent who claims he can change a government record from his shop.
Stay Safe: Official Channels Only
This site is an independent information portal, not a government department, and we never ask for your CNIC, your documents or money. The same is true of every genuine scheme: checks happen on 8171, 8500, the official portals named on each scheme page, and government offices. Treat any message, call or social media post that asks you to send your CNIC to a personal number, or to pay a fee for eligibility, approval or a survey, as fraud, and report it to the scheme’s helpline instead. When a page on this site states an eligibility rule, it also names the official channel where you can confirm it yourself.
Eligibility Check FAQs
Most checks start with your CNIC: send it by SMS to 8171 for BISP and Ehsaas, to 8500 for Sehat Card coverage, and read your province hub and the scheme page for provincial schemes. For jobs, check your domicile, education and age against the advertisement.
The PMT is the Proxy Means Test score the NSER survey assigns your household; welfare schemes set cut-offs against it, such as around 32 for BISP Kafaalat and 45 for the Himmat Card. Your score is held in the registry; BISP tehsil offices can tell you your status and update your survey.
It usually means your household has not been surveyed or the record is incomplete. Visit your tehsil BISP office with the family’s CNICs and complete the free NSER dynamic survey; no agent or fee is involved.
No. The 8171 and 8500 checks, the web portals and the NSER survey at BISP offices are all free. Anyone charging for them is not working for the government.
Renew it first at NADRA. An expired CNIC stalls eligibility replies, survey records and payments, and job applications require a valid CNIC throughout.
You can run the SMS checks with her CNIC number from her own mobile where possible, because replies and payments are tied to her record. For survey updates and corrections, she should visit the office herself with her CNIC.
Keep exploring: Jobs · All Government Schemes · BISP Kafaalat · Ehsaas Program
Last updated: November 5, 2026