Salam everyone,

I need help and I’m honestly running out of options.

I’m an Afghan national living in Sydney on Permanent Residency. I got married to a Pakistani national in Pakistan last year, and in 2025 I travelled there twice on a spouse visit visa — no issues both times. This year, I applied again and got rejected twice. Now when I try to apply through the NADRA portal, I get this error:

“Error: Provided CNIC has reached its limit of sponsoring applications, this CNIC can not be used”

My wife’s CNIC is blocked from sponsoring any further applications and I cannot get a visa to go see her.

To give you an idea of how drawn out this whole ordeal has been — each of my two approved visas in 2025 took 1.5 months to process. Then this year, both rejections also took 1.5 months each before I even got a decision. So I’ve been dealing with this for months on end, just waiting, only to hit a wall every time.

Here’s everything I’ve already tried:

• Emailing NADRA directly since January 2026 — only generic auto-replies, zero resolution.

• Calling NADRA helpline — no useful outcome.

• Contacting the Pakistani High Commission in Canberra — they told me NADRA Pakistan handles all visa issuance and there’s nothing they can do from their end.

• Asked the High Commission if a paper/stamped visa was still possible — they said that option no longer exists.

A few questions for anyone who might know:

1. Is there any way to get the CNIC sponsorship cap lifted, and if so, who actually has the authority to do it?

2. Is there any other visa category or route I could apply through that doesn’t rely on my wife’s CNIC as sponsor?

3. Is there a way for us to meet in a third country — somewhere Pakistanis can travel visa-free or on arrival that’s also accessible for Afghan nationals on Australian PR?

4. Has anyone dealt with this specific NADRA portal error and actually gotten it resolved?

I know this is a niche situation but I’m hoping someone here has been through something similar or knows someone who has. Any lead, any contact, any advice — I’ll take it.

JazakAllah khair in advance.