According to Additional Interior Secretary Salman Chaudhry, who spoke at a Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights meeting, Saudi Arabia and the UAE had “stopped short of imposing a ban on the Pakistani passport,” Dawn newspaper reported.
He cautioned that if a ban were to be enacted, it would be challenging to remove it. He further stated that, at present, the UAE was issuing visas exclusively to holders of blue and diplomatic passports.
A Pakistani blue passport is an official document designated for government officials and authorized personnel, in contrast to the standard green passport issued to ordinary citizens.
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Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri, who leads the Senate committee on human rights, corroborated the interior ministry official’s claims to the publication.
She indicated that the restrictions were related to worries regarding individuals traveling to the UAE and becoming “involved in criminal activities”.
The committee was informed that the UAE was not issuing visas to most Pakistanis, with very few being granted in the recent past “after much difficulty,” she noted.
Conversely, UAE Ambassador to Pakistan Salem M. Salem Al Bawab Al Zaabi presented “major UAE visa facilitation reforms for Pakistanis” to Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Thursday, according to the latter’s ministry.
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The reforms addressed during their meeting in Islamabad included online visa applications, e-visas without the need for passport stamping, and quicker system-to-system connections, the finance ministry reported on X.
Approximately 500 visas were being processed daily at the newly established UAE Visa Centre in Pakistan, according to the statement, which further detailed the reforms shared by the ambassador.
Pakistan and the UAE maintain strong diplomatic, economic, and cultural relations.
The UAE stands as one of Pakistan’s primary trading partners in the Middle East and a significant source of remittances, with a substantial Pakistani expatriate community residing and working there.
However, Pakistani nationals encountered visa denials in early July, which prompted Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi to address the matter with his UAE counterpart.
During a meeting on July 11, UAE Lt Gen Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan assured Naqvi of “full support” in expediting visa processing for Pakistani citizens as the Pakistani minister requested “relaxation in visa policies”.
In April, the UAE ambassador declared that visa issues had been resolved, enabling Pakistanis to access a five-year visa.
This announcement followed claims made in January to the Senate Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis that certain visas to the UAE had been “unofficially closed”.
Overseas Employment Promoter Aisam Baig reported this, stressing that the UAE government had concerns that Pakistanis on “visit visas, not work visas,” resorted to begging in the country.
Despite this, committee chairman Senator Zeeshan Khanzada stated that there were “no restrictions on work visas” for Pakistanis traveling to the Gulf nation, according to the report.
