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3w ago

UAE and Pakistan Issue Conflicting Statements on Visas for Pakistani Nationals

Conflicting official statements have left applicants unsure of the current rules.

FILE PHOTO: General view of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, January 3, 2019. Picture taken January 3, 2019.
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The development, long speculated due to months of elevated visa rejections, was formally acknowledged during a meeting of the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights on Thursday.
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Overview

  • Pakistan’s Interior Ministry told a Senate committee the UAE has effectively halted most visas for ordinary green‑passport holders, allowing only diplomatic and blue‑passport cases.
  • The UAE ambassador and consular officials rejected talk of a blanket halt, citing a new visa centre handling about 500 Pakistani applications daily and reforms such as online processing and e‑visas.
  • Pakistani officials linked tighter scrutiny to passport misuse, trafficking and criminal cases, including reports of non‑Pakistanis travelling on Pakistani documents.
  • Islamabad says it has expanded safeguards by digitising citizen records and deciding to cancel passports of deportees, file police reports, and place names on travel‑control lists.
  • Uncertainty persists over which categories are affected, though some parliamentary reporting notes no curbs on work visas, a sensitive issue given 1.7–2.27 million Pakistanis living in the UAE and vital remittance flows.