Rice is Pakistan’s major export crop and injudicious use of several pesticides by rice growers is making it all difficult for exporters to get their shipments clear regarding pesticide residues. In continuation of systematic research for determination of pesticide residues, rice samples were collected from key growers of important rice growing areas of Punjab including Gujranwala, Sialkot, Hafizabad, Narowal, Sheikhupura, Mandi Bahaudin, Pasrur and Jhang. Imidacloprid is a systemic insecticide with seed, foliar and soil uses to control sucking pests. Newly proposed maximum residual limit (MRL) for imidacloprid in rice by European food safety authority is 1.5 µg g-1. High performance liquid chromatography with photo diode array detector was employed for imidacloprid residues analysis. Method validation data showed a recovery percentage of 86±6.12%, 115±3.53%, 108±6.01%, 93±3.53% and 93±3.84% for fortification levels of 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.5 and 1 µg g-1 rice sample, respectively. Residues analysis data showed that most of the randomly selected samples carried imidacloprid residues. Three samples from district Sialkot (1.63, 2.22 and 2.74 µg g-1) while one sample each from Gujranwala (2.63 µg g-1) and Narowal (1.88 µg g-1) exceeded the MRL. Imidacloprid residues were recorded in the range of 0.47 to 2.63 µg g-1, 0.95 to 2.74 µg g-1, < 0.01 to 1.16 µg g-1, 0.43 to 1.88 µg g-1, 0.01 to 0.82 µg g-1, 0.07 to 0.76 µg g-1, <0.01 to 0.14 µg g-1 and <0.01 to 0.1 µg g-1 rice in samples from Gujranwala, Sialkot, Hafizabad, Narowal, Sheikhupura, Mandi Bahaudin, Pasrur and Jhang, respectively. The information would be beneficial for rice exporters. Moreover, extension workers and their field staff should translate to the rice growers the threat their produce would be facing in modern international markets.