The United Arab Emirates is not issuing visas to Pakistani citizens
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is not issuing visas to Pakistanis, said Pakistan’s Additional Interior Secretary Salman Chaudhry. However, he said that for now Pakistanis have been spared from a ban on their passports.
According to a report by Pakistan’s news outlet Dawn, Salman Chaudhry made these remarks on Thursday at a meeting of the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights.
He said that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have not yet “imposed a ban on Pakistani passports. If a ban is imposed, it will be difficult to have it lifted.”
Salman Chaudhry stated that currently the UAE is issuing visas only to holders of blue and diplomatic passports.
The chairperson of Pakistan’s Senate Committee on Human Rights, Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri, confirmed to Dawn the information disclosed by Salman Chaudhry.
She said that the visa restrictions were introduced due to concerns over some Pakistanis getting involved in criminal activities after going to the UAE.
Mumtaz Zehri said that the Senate Committee was told that “the United Arab Emirates is not issuing visas to Pakistanis. Recently, only a handful of people have been able to obtain visas with great difficulty.”
However, a senior diplomat at the UAE embassy told Dawn that there is no ban on visas for Pakistani citizens.
Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates maintain close diplomatic, economic, and cultural relations. The UAE is one of Pakistan’s largest trading partners in the Middle East and a major source of remittances.
Many Pakistani migrants live and work there. But delays and rejections in visa applications for Pakistanis are occurring. In July as well, Pakistani visas were rejected.
In this context, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi raised the issue with the UAE’s Interior Minister.
