If you live in Texas but need to buy, sell, or inherit real estate in Pakistan, you usually cannot handle the registration yourself from abroad. Instead, you sign a power of attorney authorizing a trusted family member or lawyer in Pakistan to act for you before the sub-registrar. Getting that document accepted is where most overseas Pakistanis get stuck, because practice at the receiving office can vary.
This page explains how to prepare a Texas power of attorney that a Pakistani sub-registrar will accept.
What an apostille is
An apostille is a certificate that authenticates a public document — a notary's signature, a court seal, a registrar's certification — so it will be accepted by authorities in another country. For countries in the Hague Apostille Convention, the apostille is the finish line. For countries outside it, the same Texas certificate is the first step in a short legalization chain.
Does an apostille work in Pakistan?
Pakistan joined the Hague Apostille Convention in 2023, so in principle a Texas document carrying a Texas apostille is recognized without further consular legalization.
In practice, however, many land authorities and sub-registrars still route property powers of attorney through Pakistani consular attestation, as they did before the Convention. Because the transition is uneven across provinces and offices, confirm with the specific sub-registrar who will register the document which route they require. If you cannot get a clear answer, the safest course is to do both — obtain the Texas apostille and have the document attested at a Pakistani consulate — so the power of attorney is accepted either way.
How the Texas Secretary of State apostille works
Texas apostilles come from a single office: the Secretary of State's Authentications Unit in Austin. There is no county-clerk step — a document notarized by any Texas notary, in any of the 254 counties, goes straight to the state. Since October 2023 Texas issues one Universal Apostille (Form 2102) that works for every destination, whether or not the country belongs to the Hague Apostille Convention.
The state fee is $15 per document. Mailed requests can take up to 25 business days; in-person and appointment service in Austin is same-day for up to 10 documents, and a bulk drop-box handles larger batches in 24–48 hours. There is no online submission — every request is handled by mail or in person. Certified copies of vital records (birth, death, marriage, divorce) must be less than five years old.