Pakistani citizens have recently faced visa rejections for travel to the United Arab Emirates, which is its key trading partner and source of remittances. In early July, Pakistanโs Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met with his UAE counterpart to address the issue.
A senior interior ministry official in UAE said the Gulf nation has stopped issuing visas to Pakistani citizens, adding that Islamabad narrowly escaped a passport ban. UAEโs Additional Interior Secretary Salman Chaudhry made this remark while holding a meeting with the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights, PTI reported citing Dawn newspaper.
Chaudhry said the UAE and Saudi Arabia havenโt imposed a ban on the Pakistani passport as removing it later would have been a difficult task. He said visas are currently being issued to blue and diplomatic passport holders.
A Pakistani blue passport is a special travel document provided to government officials and certain eligible individuals. It differs from the standard green passport, which is issued to the general public.
Senate Committee Confirms Visa Restrictions
Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri, who heads the Senate committee on human rights, has confirmed the development. He said the move has been implemented amid concerns of people travelling to the UAE and โgetting involved in criminal activitiesโ there.
Zehri said very few Pakistani citizens have been able to get UAE visas โafter much difficultyโ in recent days.
Pakistani citizens have recently faced visa rejections for travel to the United Arab Emirates, which is its key trading partner and source of remittances.
High-level talks to resolve visa issues
In early July, Pakistanโs Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met with his UAE counterpart to address the issue. During the meeting on July 11, UAE Lt Gen Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan assured Naqvi of โfull supportโ in speeding up the visa process.
Earlier, in April, the UAE ambassador to Pakistan had announced that the visa difficulties had been resolved, allowing Pakistanis to now apply for a five-year visa.
Reports suggest that some visas were โunofficially closedโ earlier this year. According to Overseas Employment Promoter Aisam Baig, the UAE had expressed concerns that Pakistanis entering on visit visas, instead of work visas, might engage in begging.
ALSO READ: