Privacy Notice
UNHCR is the United Nations refugee agency which is mandated to provide protection and assistance to refugees, asylum-seekers and stateless persons. To improve its services, UNHCR has developed the My Services portal.
In Pakistan, the platform acts as an entry-point for refugees and asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR to exchange information directly with UNHCR and receive some services.
My Services enables you to:
- Update your phone number
- Request an appointment to add a family member (including new births in your family)
- Receive some UNHCR-issued documents
- Check your resettlement status
UNHCR collects and uses personal data pursuant to the UNHCR General Policy on Data Protection and Privacy (2022) and Policy on the Protection of Personal Data of Persons of Concern to UNHCR (2015).
This Privacy Notice explains how our organization uses the personal data we collect from you when you use this digital self-service platform and your rights relating to our use of your personal data.
How Is Your Personal Data Collected and Used on the My Services Portal?
In Pakistan, UNHCR may assist and provide services to people forced to flee their home countries. This assistance and services may include protection against involuntary return to their home countries, support with accessing medical services, education, financial support, and durable solutions. To do so, UNHCR needs to enroll people seeking UNHCR’s support in the My Services portal.
Once you create an account on this portal, we will collect and use your personal data (and personal data of the people who chose to jointly enroll with you) through the My Services portal to facilitate user enrolment and support the provision of assistance and protection interventions in line with UNHCR’s mandate.
What personal data do we process?
UNHCR may collect and process one or all of following information when you are using My Services portal:
a. To initiate your registration process (if you are not yet registered with UNHCR, and to ensure you have a distinct and reliable identity in our system), we will collect and use the following personal data:
- Full name
- Date of birth
- Phone number and personal email
- Alternative means of communication such as your WhatsApp number
- In case you have an identity document, document type, document number, and the photo/scan of your document.
- Digital image of your identity document
- Your current address in Pakistan
- Your last residential address in your home country
- Your visa status in Pakistan
- Your specific needs (where applicable, such as disability, serious health concern, etc)
- Device information: IP address
Why do we collect your data?
Your personal data is collected and processed when you use the platform and accessing the following services:
- Account creation and enrolment, this applies when you are enrolled for the first time on the My Services portal.
- Account management, such as when you update your phone number or address
- Appointment management, such as when UNHCR schedules an appointment for data update
To ensure your secure and continued access to the portal and allow UNHCR to communicate with you, the e-mail address and phone number provided by you when creating an account on the portal will be verified via one-time password (OTP) during account creation.
Our use of your personal data through this Portal will not involve automated decision making. The basis for collecting, storing and using your personal data is UNHCR’s mandate as established by the United Nations General Assembly. You can read more about our Mandate here.
The legitimate basis for UNHCR to process your personal data is to perform our mandate, i.e., it is necessary to process your personal data to provide international protection and assistance to forcibly displaced and stateless people.
UNHCR will seek to provide you with protection and assistance services relevant to your situation on the basis of the information you provide to UNHCR. Therefore, it is important to provide true and accurate data to the best of your knowledge, and to keep it updated. If you provide inaccurate or false information, it may negatively affect your eligibility for protection and assistance services.
How long do we store your personal data?
We will keep your personal data in the portal until your enrolment process is completed. Once completed, we may continue to keep your personal data as long as it is necessary to allow you to access your personal data, check certain status of your case, and use other digital services as they become available.
If you would like to delete your Account, you may contact UNHCR through e-mail [email protected].
Who will have access to your data?
All information shared by you through the portal will be kept confidential and only used by qualified personnel of UNHCR and partners to perform their duties.
UNHCR’s non-governmental partners may conduct assessments and targeting for provision of life-saving assistance and services. We may share necessary personal data with such partner organizations for this purpose.
Under no circumstances, will we share your personal data with the government in your country of origin or any other entity other than those indicated above in this section without your consent.
UNHCR uses Microsoft to host the Portal and related UNHCR systems and to provide technical support and maintenance services for the Portal and related UNHCR systems. Microsoft is contractually bound to keep the personal data secure and confidential and to process it only under UNHCR’s instructions.
What are your rights and how can you exercise them?
UNHCR would like to make sure that you are fully aware of your rights as a user of the portal. Every user is entitled to the following:
- You can access your personal data by logging on to your profile.
- You can update your contact information, such as phone number, WhatsApp number and address in Pakistan. UNHCR will verify the information remotely prior to any update.
- You can request correction of the personal data you submitted if it is inaccurate or incomplete. However, once you submit your application, you will no longer be able to change your data until UNHCR verifies your data. In the interest of protecting the integrity and reliability of your data, UNHCR may reserve the right to ask for evidence supporting requests for alteration of critical personal information.
- You can object to collection, use and sharing of your personal data in certain circumstances during verification with UNHCR, for example if you believe it may put you under serious risk. Such requests will be evaluated by UNHCR on a case-by-case basis.
If you believe your rights have been violated by UNHCR’s processing of your personal data, you may lodge a complaint by writing an e-mail to [email protected] or escalate it with the UNHCR Inspector General’s Office. All complaints are treated with strict confidentiality.
How to contact us?
If you have any questions about UNHCR’s privacy notice, the data we hold on you, or you would like to exercise one of your data subject rights, please contact UNHCR at https://help.unhcr.org/pakistan/contact/.
If you suspect fraud or receive any suspicious offers, please report it immediately through UNHCR Pakistan’s official channels:
UNHCR Helpline: 0800-86677
Email: [email protected]
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Changes to this privacy notice
UNHCR keeps its privacy notices under regular review and places any updates on its official webpage. This privacy notice was last updated in February 2026.