Our work
Community service.
A collective voice.
Since 2015, OPWC has brought overseas Pakistanis together through practical welfare, local outreach and representation to public institutions.
Our work brings the concerns of everyday life abroad to the institutions responsible for addressing them. Local volunteers, community organisers and the council’s leadership each contribute to that effort.
To discuss a community enquiry or ask about outreach in your area, contact the OPWC team.
01 / Consular outreach
Access to
document services
Helping connect local communities with official outreach.
For people who find travel difficult, a local outreach event can make an important public service easier to reach.
OPWC volunteers have helped local communities take part in NADRA outreach held with the Pakistan High Commission. The council helps with community organisation; applications and decisions remain with the official authorities.
Community volunteering
OPWC supported NADRA outreach in Newcastle, with volunteers helping at the local event.
Outreach through local cooperation
The Pakistan High Commission held a NADRA surgery in Hemel Hempstead, organised locally with the OPWC team and the mosque committee. The outreach was intended to make services easier to reach for older and disabled people, women and children. Local president Raja Tabraiz Khan and volunteers helped organise the event. Chairman Naeem Naqshbandi also visited the facility.
For applications and appointments
OPWC does not issue identity documents or passports. Use the Pakistan High Commission’s NADRA service (opens in a new tab) for official application guidance, fees and appointments. Contact OPWC to ask about community outreach.
02 / Public representation
Bringing community
concerns to institutions
Consular access, travel, property concerns and communication with public bodies.
A representative forum gives overseas Pakistanis a way to raise shared difficulties directly with the institutions responsible.
OPWC delegations and representatives have met the Pakistan High Commission, Punjab’s Overseas Pakistanis Commission, NADRA, other authorities and British MPs. These meetings have raised practical difficulties affecting families in Britain and Pakistan.
Complaints and identity services
An OPWC delegation met Punjab OPC in Lahore in October 2018. In December 2021, chairman Naeem Naqshbandi raised agents’ additional charges for online identity services with NADRA chairman Tariq Malik and met FIA Director General Sanaullah Abbasi on overseas Pakistanis’ concerns.
Consular access and property concerns
A council delegation, including chairman Naeem Naqshbandi and president Haji Abid Hussain, met High Commissioner Dr. Mohammad Faisal. It raised weekend consular access, local NADRA services, emergency visas, passport complaints and property concerns.
Representations on cross-border difficulties
In December 2024, OPWC and Pakistan Community Centre Reading colleagues raised direct flights and the cost of returning deceased relatives to Pakistan with British MPs. In September 2026, the chairman met Director General Immigration and Passports Muhammad Ali Randhawa about difficulties facing overseas applicants, including first-passport security-clearance delays for dual nationals.
OPWC raises community concerns and maintains dialogue with the authorities responsible for public services and policy.
03 / Community welfare
Practical support
when it matters
Responding through community resources and cooperation.
Community welfare takes practical form when people give their time, resources and local connections to meet a shared need.
Food support for frontline workers
During the COVID-19 pandemic, OPWC distributed food packages to NHS, Police and Royal Mail key workers on behalf of the Pakistan High Commission. High Commissioner Mohammad Nafees Zakaria thanked chairman Naeem Naqshbandi and president Haji Abid Hussain for their contribution.
04 / Local participation
Local organisers.
Specialist forums.
Developing the council through local leadership and specialist forums.
Local organisation allows more people to take part in community life and bring their experience to the council’s work.
Town-based organisers and specialist forums have helped OPWC involve people from different communities, professions and areas of interest.
Professional, women’s and human rights forums
In 2017, Waqas Sohail was appointed organiser of the Professional Forum in East London. December 2019 appointments included Arshad Hussain Kiyani as Crawley president and Hina Jamshed as Women’s Forum vice president for the South of England. Umar Sheikh was appointed to lead the Human Rights Forum in the same region in January 2020.
05 / Community dialogue
Shared occasions.
Stronger connections.
Bringing community members, civic leaders and public representatives together.
Photographs from SloughCommunity gatherings give people a place to exchange concerns, maintain cultural ties and meet those who represent public institutions.
Heritage and participation
Early national-day celebrations in Maidenhead were followed by OPWC’s Defence Day gathering in London in October 2019. In August 2023, Haji Abid Hussain and Talat Aziz Kiyani co-hosted an Independence Day gathering in Slough, chaired by Naeem Naqshbandi.
A forum for overseas Pakistanis
OPWC’s seminar brought councillors, lawyers and community leaders together with representatives of OPF, Punjab OPC and the Pakistan High Commission. President Haji Abid Hussain hosted the gathering, organised with chairman Naeem Naqshbandi, councillors and lawyers.
Guests included OPF board chairman Syed Qamar Raza and Punjab OPC vice chair Barrister Amjad Malik. The gathering focused on strengthening Pakistan and its ties with overseas Pakistanis.
Community and institutional dialogue
A July 2024 reception hosted by the OPWC president for Chakwal Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Waqar Zafar Bakhtawari discussed British-Pakistani business links, younger generations’ connections with Pakistan and overseas Pakistanis’ complaints.
In April 2025, the president hosted an Islamabad reception for OPF chairman Syed Qamar Raza, chaired by the OPWC chairman.
Civic connections
OPWC invited the Mayor of High Wycombe to meet the newly appointed High Commissioner in London.
Discover OPWC
Explore the history
behind the work
Follow the council’s development since 2015, or meet the people who lead its activities.