Muzy & Meraris LLP

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02/08/2026

Europe is introducing a new entry requirement that will affect millions of visa-free travellers — including UK, Canadian, Australian and Gulf passport holders. There's a lot of confusion around it, and some of what's circulating is simply wrong. Here's the accurate position.
What ETIAS is. The European Travel Information and Authorisation System is an online travel authorisation — not a visa — that nationals of roughly 60 visa-exempt countries will need before short stays in the Schengen Area. It's the European equivalent of the US ESTA or the UK ETA: applied for online, linked to your passport, approved automatically for most applicants within minutes. It costs €20 (free for under-18s and over-70s, who still must apply), and once granted is valid for three years or until the passport expires.
What it is not. This matters. ETIAS does not grant entry — a border officer still decides at the frontier. It does not permit work or residence. And it does not override the 90-days-in-180 short-stay limit. It is a pre-screening authorisation, nothing more.
Now the correction, because the internet is full of confident launch dates that are no longer accurate. The EU had targeted the last quarter of 2026 — but in mid-July 2026 it quietly removed that target date from the official ETIAS website, and reporting indicates a 2026 launch is no longer considered feasible, with 2027 now the likely outcome. A revised timeline is expected after the responsible EU agency's board meets in September 2026. In short: no confirmed date currently exists, and until it launches, nothing changes — a valid passport still gives visa-free entry exactly as before.
The warning worth repeating loudly: because the system is not yet open, any website currently accepting ETIAS applications or payments is fraudulent. When it does launch, there will be one official channel, and the EU has said it will announce the date months in advance. Anyone asking you to "register now" or "pre-pay to secure your ETIAS" today is running a scam — a pattern our readers will recognise from every other manufactured-urgency fraud.
The practical takeaway: ETIAS is real and coming, it's a €20 formality rather than a visa, but it is not live yet, has no confirmed date, and cannot be applied for anywhere right now. Watch the official EU source, ignore the countdown-clock marketing, and never pay a third party to "arrange" something that doesn't yet exist.

26/07/2026

A UK visit visa refusal carries no right of appeal. Many applicants read that line and assume the door is closed. It isn't always — but the only route left is one of the most misunderstood remedies in law.
Standard UK visitor refusals cannot be appealed, and carry no administrative review. Where a refusal is not merely unfavourable but legally flawed, one remedy remains: judicial review. Before anyone pursues it, four things must be understood.
It tests lawfulness, not merit. The court doesn't ask whether the officer reached the right decision. It asks whether the decision was made lawfully — irrational, procedurally unfair, or based on a legal error. "I disagree with the outcome" is not a ground. GOV.UK says so expressly.
It admits no new evidence. Judicial review examines the decision on the material that was already before the officer. If your real problem is a missing document, the answer is a fresh application — not litigation.
It doesn't get you a visa. This is the point almost everyone misunderstands. A successful claim quashes the decision and sends it back for a lawful reconsideration by a different caseworker. The remedy is a fresh decision — not an approval.
The clock runs from the refusal date. A claim must be brought promptly, and within three months — and, critically, the mandatory pre-action letter to the Home Office does not pause that deadline. Delay alone can extinguish the remedy.
One practical point worth knowing: a well-drafted pre-action protocol letter resolves a significant share of these cases — figures commonly cited are around 30% — without ever reaching court, where the Home Office reviews it and concedes an obvious error. It is often the single most valuable document in the process.
And the real question is usually not "litigate or accept it," but "litigate or reapply." Where a refusal reflects a fixable weakness, a stronger fresh application — decided in weeks, with new evidence allowed — is often the better route. Judicial review is for the genuinely unlawful decision, not the merely disappointing one. The exception: where a refusal alleges deception, which can carry long re-entry bans, that finding may need to be challenged rather than left to taint future applications.
We've set out the full process — the grounds, the pre-action step, the Upper Tribunal, the time limits, and how it compares to reapplying — in our latest Insights briefing. Link below
This briefing concerns the law of England and Wales, and is published for general information only — not legal advice, and no professional engagement is offered or implied.

https://www.muzylaw.com/challenging-a-uk-visit-visa-refusal-by-judicial-review-a-detailed-guide

24/07/2026

Overseas Pakistanis sent home a record US$41 billion last year — more than foreign investment, and the backbone of the country's external accounts. This week, Pakistan launched a new policy to govern how they leave, work, and are protected.

The National Emigration & Welfare Policy 2026, launched on 23 July, is a genuinely serious articulation of migration governance. Its pillars address the right problems:

Safe, legal migration — a more transparent, better-regulated process aimed squarely at the fraud and trafficking that has cost so many families their savings.

Skills that travel — a heavy emphasis on internationally recognised qualifications, to move Pakistani workers up the global value chain rather than leave them competing at the bottom.

Worker protection — stronger safeguards and consular welfare for the 12 million Pakistanis already abroad.

Cheaper, faster remittances — work with the State Bank to streamline formal channels, expand rural access, and reduce transfer costs, steering money away from informal routes.

Reintegration — support for returning migrants, a stage Pakistani policy has long neglected.

The document is sound. But here is the honest part: Pakistan rarely lacks well-drafted policies — it lacks follow-through. Whether 2026 becomes a turning point or joins a shelf of aspirational frameworks depends on four things a launch ceremony cannot guarantee: resourcing, federal–provincial coordination, real enforcement against exploitative agents, and credentials the world actually recognises.

Measure it by its ex*****on over the coming years, not by its podium.

We've set out the full analysis — every pillar, and the specific tests of whether it will work — in our latest Insights briefing. Link in the comments.

Published for general information. Not legal advice, and no professional engagement is offered or implied. Government policy and implementing rules evolve; confirm the current position with the relevant authorities before acting.

23/07/2026

Thousands of Pakistani businesses run as "partnerships" — an AOP registered with the FBR, a handshake, and a shared bank account. In 2026, the ground under that structure is shifting, and owners should understand why.

The SECP has spent this year actively encouraging Associations of Persons to convert into registered companies — running joint sessions with the FBR, targeting specific sectors, and framing corporatisation as the direction of travel for the formal economy. This isn't an isolated push; it sits alongside tightened corporate rules, expanded beneficial-ownership disclosure, and the broader move toward a documented economy. It's worth understanding the real trade-off rather than the sales pitch.

What an AOP actually is. A partnership-style structure, registered with the FBR rather than the SECP, common among professionals and family businesses. It's simple and cheap to run. It also has a defining feature owners often underestimate: unlimited personal liability. The business's debts are the partners' debts, reaching personal assets.

What incorporation changes — genuinely. A registered company is a separate legal person. Its central advantage is limited liability: in the ordinary case, the owners' exposure is capped at their investment, and personal assets sit behind a legal wall the AOP simply doesn't have. A company also has perpetual existence — it survives a partner's death or exit, which an AOP frequently does not — and it can raise capital, take on investors, and transfer ownership in ways a partnership cannot.

The honest cost side. Incorporation is not free of burden. A company faces real ongoing compliance: an annual return to the SECP within 30 days of its AGM, audited accounts in many cases, director duties, and beneficial-ownership disclosure — each carrying penalties for default, up to being struck off the register. And here is the point most owners miss: SECP filing and FBR filing are two separate obligations, to two separate regulators, with two separate sets of penalties. Registering a company adds a compliance stream; it does not replace your tax filing.

So who should actually consider it? As a general orientation, not advice on any business: the case for incorporating strengthens as a business takes on debt, brings in outside investors, holds significant assets, involves partners who want their exposure limited, or is being built to outlast its founders. The case for staying an AOP is strongest for small, low-liability, owner-operated ventures where the compliance overhead would outweigh the protection.

The larger context matters too. As Pakistan's economy formalises — bank reporting, beneficial-ownership registers, data-matched tax monitoring — the informal advantages of an undocumented structure are steadily narrowing, while the protections of a formal one remain. That shift is worth factoring into any decision made now.

The structure a business started with is rarely a permanent choice. It is worth reviewing deliberately — ideally before growth, debt or a dispute forces the question.

Published for general information. Not legal, tax or accounting advice, and no professional engagement is offered or implied. Structure, tax and compliance outcomes depend on individual circumstances; independent professional advice should be taken before any action.

23/07/2026

Pakistan spent the last eighteen months building a legal framework to welcome crypto. This week it built the other half — the part that enforces it.

On 21 July, the FIA established a dedicated Cryptocurrency Investigation Unit within its new National Command and Control Centre (NC3), tasked with money laundering, terrorism financing and other financial crime conducted through virtual assets. Its counter-terrorism chief has also urged the cybercrime agency (NCCIA) and the Anti-Narcotics Force to build equivalent units of their own.

For anyone operating in or investing through digital assets in Pakistan, three points are worth understanding.

Regulation and enforcement are now two different doors. PVARA licenses and supervises the market. The FIA investigates crime within it. They are distinct bodies with distinct powers — and a PVARA licence is emphatically not immunity from an FIA inquiry. A compliant business can still find itself explaining a transaction.

"On-chain" is not "anonymous." The premise of this unit is that blockchain activity can be traced, matched and investigated. Combined with the reporting architecture already in place — banks servicing licensed VASPs must monitor accounts, and suspicious transactions flow to the Financial Monitoring Unit — the informal era in which crypto sat outside official view is closing.

The compliance burden has become real, not theoretical. Documented source of funds, proper KYC, and clean records were good practice a year ago. With a dedicated investigative unit now standing, they are the difference between a routine query and a serious problem.

There is a larger point here worth noting. A market only attracts serious institutional capital once it has credible enforcement — investors need to know the rules are policed. In that sense, this unit is not the opposite of Pakistan's crypto ambitions. It is a precondition for them.

For participants, the message is straightforward: the framework is maturing in both directions at once. Build for it.

Published for general information. Not legal advice, and no professional engagement is offered or implied. This is a developing area; confirm the current position with PVARA and the relevant authorities before acting.

22/07/2026

Last week, thousands of British Pakistanis were told they'd been "banned" from entering Pakistan. They hadn't been. But the panic tells you something about how legal changes travel.

Here's what actually happened.

On 15 July, the FIA directed airlines and immigration checkpoints to stop accepting expired or cancelled NICOPs. A dual national travelling on a foreign passport now needs one of two things: a valid NICOP, or a valid Pakistani visa. No third option. Airlines have been told not to board passengers without either, and those who arrive regardless face return on the next flight.

An airline advisory then circulated, was widely misread, and within a day the story had become "British passport holders barred from Pakistan." The government clarified that this was incorrect and misleading. The rule is not country-specific — it applies identically to overseas Pakistanis travelling from Britain, America, Europe, the Gulf, anywhere.

And here is the part almost nobody reported. Officials described this as enforcing rules that already existed, not creating new ones. Travelling on an expired NICOP was never lawful. It was simply tolerated, for years, until it wasn't.

That distinction matters. This isn't a new restriction on overseas Pakistanis. It's the end of an old leniency — and the two feel identical to the person turned away at check-in, but they are not the same thing legally.

It's also consistent with everything else: an expired CNIC or NICOP already suspends banking and SIM services. Travel was the outlier.

So the practical advice is unglamorous. Check your NICOP expiry date today — not when you book. Renewal takes time, and a valid card still gives visa-free entry and unlimited stay exactly as before.

Nothing was taken away from you. A grace period ended.

General information, not legal advice. Confirm current requirements with FIA/NADRA or your nearest Pakistani mission before travelling.

22/07/2026

A Pakistani inspection firm has been penalised Rs 5 million for adopting a trade name and logo resembling a global certification brand's. The most instructive thing about the case is which law was used.

The complaint came from Bureau Veritas, the France-based testing and certification group. But it wasn't filed in an IP tribunal, and it wasn't a copyright suit.

It went to the Competition Commission of Pakistan — which found the imitation amounted to deceptive marketing under Section 10 of the Competition Act 2010, and imposed the penalty on that basis.

That's the lesson. Businesses instinctively treat brand imitation as an "IP problem" and reach for trademark or copyright remedies. But where imitation is capable of misleading consumers, Section 10 opens a separate door — one that is often faster, and enforced by a regulator with real teeth rather than through ordinary civil litigation.

One reported detail from the reasoning is worth noting. The respondent argued the two logos differed in colour. The Commission was unpersuaded — observing, as reported, that certification documents are routinely reproduced in black and white, and that consumers don't compare competing logos side by side. Anyone who has ever faced a "but ours is a different colour" defence will recognise how neatly that disposes of it.

There's also a public-interest dimension the Commission appears to have had in mind: where the imitated brand belongs to a certification body, the deception isn't only commercial. It touches whether anyone relying on that certificate is getting the accreditation the branding implies.

For businesses: your brand may be protected by more routes than you assume — and imitating one may expose you to more than you expect.

Based on press reports of a regulatory decision which may be subject to appeal. General information, not legal advice.

21/07/2026

One of the most consequential family-law judgments in Pakistan's recent history is now being tested before the higher courts. It affects more people than almost any ruling this year — here is what it says, and where it stands.

In Amara Waqas v. Muhammad Waqas Rashid, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani of the Islamabad High Court held that marriage should be understood as an economic partnership — and that a wife, whether a homemaker or a working professional, may be entitled to a share of the assets acquired during the marriage, regardless of whose name appears on the documents. A striking detail: the petitioner argued her own case, in person, across three courts over five years.

The court's reasoning. The judgment treated domestic and caregiving work as a genuine contribution to the wealth a household builds. It drew on comparative family law from Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Canada, and on Pakistan's obligations under CEDAW, while also citing Islamic sources — holding that Islamic law does not prohibit legislation protecting women's financial rights. The court further recommended a dedicated column in the Nikahnama to let couples stipulate how marital property would be divided.

Where it stands — the crucial point. This is not settled law. The judgment has generated significant legal and religious debate. The law ministry has challenged it before the Federal Shariat Court — the constitutional forum that determines conformity with the Qur'an and Sunnah — and the husband has challenged it before the Supreme Court. Its ultimate standing is unresolved, and we take no position here on how those challenges should be decided.

What already applies, whatever the higher courts decide. This is the practical takeaway worth knowing. The Nikahnama already permits couples to agree financial and property terms at the time of marriage, through its existing provisions and delegated rights. The court itself urged families to use them. Couples can address these questions contractually, at the outset — which is very often wiser than leaving them to be fought over years later.

This is a developing area of law, and where the Supreme Court and Federal Shariat Court take it will matter a great deal. Whatever one's view of the ruling itself, understanding the rights and options that already exist under the Nikahnama and family law is worthwhile for anyone entering, or in, a marriage.

Published for general information. Not legal advice, and no professional engagement is offered or implied. This is a summary of a reported judgment that is subject to ongoing appellate proceedings; the current legal position should be confirmed before relying on it.

If someone is threatening to leak your private photos or messages unless you pay or comply — stop, and read this. You ar...
21/07/2026

If someone is threatening to leak your private photos or messages unless you pay or comply — stop, and read this. You are not alone, and you have done nothing wrong.
It's called sextortion, and it's one of the fastest-growing crimes in Pakistan. It targets women and men, girls and boys alike. Here's what the criminals never want you to know:
⚖️ Under Pakistani law (PECA), sharing — or even threatening to share — someone's private images without consent is a serious crime, punishable by up to 7 years in prison and heavy fines. The blackmailer is the criminal. Not you.
If it's happening to you, do NOT:
❌ Pay — it never ends the demands, it multiplies them.
❌ Panic or act out of shame — this is not your fault.
❌ Delete the messages — that evidence is what puts them in jail.
DO:
✅ Screenshot everything — messages, profiles, numbers.
✅ Block them.
✅ Report to the NCCIA, Pakistan's cybercrime agency, at complaint.nccia.gov.pk (and its helpline — confirm the current number on the official site). They are actively arresting blackmailers.
✅ Tell someone you trust. Please don't carry this alone.
Their threats do not define you, and no photo is worth more than your life. Reach out, report, and let the people who can help, help. 🤍
If you know a young person, share this — it could genuinely save a life.
Shared for general public awareness. Not legal advice, and no professional engagement is offered or implied.

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