UAE stops issuing visas to Pakistani nationals: Here is the reason why
UAE has stopped issuing visas for people holding Pakistan's passport. This information was shared with Pakistan's Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights by Additional Interior Secretary Salman Choudhary. The UAE came to this decision after it found that Pakistani nationals coming to the country "were indulging in criminal activities."
New Delhi: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has stopped issuing visas to Pakistani nationals, informed officials from Pakistan. According to a report in the Dawn, the visas were stopped after concerns that Pakistanis traveled to the UAE and "indulged in criminal activities" in that country.
UAE visas only for blue and diplomatic passport holders from Pakistan
The Dawn report, quoted the Additional Interior Secretary Salman Choudhary telling Pakistan's Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights, that the UAE had unofficially stopped issuing visas for Pakistanis, those holding the Pakistani passport. He however added that visas would continue to be issued to diplomatic and blue passport holders in the country.
Choudhary further said that both UAE and Saudi Arabia had "just stopped short of imposing a complete ban" on visas for Pakistan nationals. He warned that if such a blanket ban is imposed, then it would be very difficult for the country to get it removed.
The assertions of Choudhary were confirmed by Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri. She said that the ban was imposed by these countries, due to Pakistan nationals repeatedly indulging in unlawful activities once they reach UAE. She said that UAE had granted very few visas to Pakistan nationals recently and this too, according to Samina was granted through great difficulty.
Earlier, it was reported that UAE had been rejecting visas for Pakistan nationals since July. Such was the scale of these rejections that Pakistan's InteriorMinister Mohsin Naqvi raised the matter with his UAE counterpart. Though he was promised "full support" by UAE Lt Gen Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the situation did not improve and Pakistani's visa requests continued to be rejected.
The concerns about Pakistanis indulging in "criminal activities" in foreign countries, when they are there on a visitors visa have emerged repeatedly in the recent past. In January also, Pakistan's Senate Committee on Overseas Pakistanis said that some UAE visas had been "unofficially closed."