By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: A top Pakistani official said on Thursday the United Arab Emirates had largely halted issuing visas to Pakistani citizens, raising alarms about potential strains in the longstanding economic and cultural ties between the two nations, even as Emirati diplomats insisted no outright ban was in place and touted recent reforms to ease the process.
The revelation came from Salman Chaudhry, the additional secretary in the Interior Ministry, during a session of the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights. He told lawmakers that both Saudi Arabia and the UAE had “stopped short of imposing a ban on the Pakistani passport,” but warned that “if a ban is imposed, getting it removed would be difficult.”
Chaudhry specified that the U.A.E. was currently issuing visas only to holders of blue and diplomatic passports, a restriction that has effectively sidelined ordinary Pakistani travellers. The measure, he indicated, stemmed from broader concerns over visa policies in the region.
Pakistan and the UAE have nurtured deep diplomatic, economic and cultural bonds for decades. The oil-rich Gulf nation ranks as one of Pakistan’s largest trading partners in the Middle East and a vital source of remittances, fueled by a substantial Pakistani expatriate community that numbers in the hundreds of thousands and contributes significantly to the UAE’s workforce in sectors like construction, hospitality and services.
Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri, who chairs the Senate committee on human rights, said the committee had been informed that the UAE was not issuing visas to Pakistanis and that very few had been granted in recent months “after much difficulty.” Zehri attributed the curbs to worries about individuals “getting involved in criminal activities” after arriving in the UAE.
The disclosures have fueled speculation and unease in Pakistan, where social media has buzzed with reports of a purported visa ban. But a senior diplomat at the UAE embassy in Islamabad, speaking on condition of anonymity, pushed back against those claims. “There’s no ban on visas for Pakistani citizens,” he said.
The mixed signals come against a backdrop of ongoing diplomatic efforts to smooth over visa hurdles. On Thursday, the UAE’s ambassador to Pakistan, Salem M. Salem Al Bawab Al Zaabi, met with Pakistan’s finance minister, Muhammad Aurangzeb, to discuss “major UAE visa facilitation reforms for Pakistanis,” according to a statement from Aurangzeb’s ministry posted on the social media platform X.
The reforms include online visa processing, e-visas that eliminate the need for passport stamping, and accelerated system-to-system linkages between the two countries’ immigration authorities. The statement highlighted that nearly 500 visas were being processed daily at a newly launched UAE Visa Centre in Pakistan.
During the meeting, Ambassador Al Zaabi emphasised the importance of enhancing bilateral cooperation in trade, investment and cultural exchanges, while “appreciating the longstanding contributions of Pakistanis working in the UAE”.
Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to bolstering the “fraternal, strategic, and economic partnership” between Pakistan and the UAE, the statement said. The discussions also touched on defence cooperation, with the two officials agreeing to collaborate more closely to explore new opportunities in trade, investment, technology, people-to-people ties and other fields.
The visa frictions are not new. In early July, Pakistani citizens encountered widespread rejections, prompting Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi to broach the issue with his UAE counterpart, Lt. Gen. Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, during a meeting on July 11. General Al Nahyan assured Naqvi of “full support” in expediting visas for Pakistanis, as the minister pressed for “relaxation in visa policies.”
Earlier this year, in April, the UAE’s then-ambassador to Pakistan, Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salem Al-Zaabi, announced that visa issues had been resolved, allowing Pakistanis to apply for five-year visas. That followed a January briefing to the Senate Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis, where Overseas Employment Promoter Aisam Baig reported that some visas to the UAE had been “unofficially closed.”
Baig explained that the UAE government harbored reservations about Pakistanis entering on “visit visas, not work visas,” who were reportedly resorting to begging in the country. However, the committee’s chairman, Senator Zeeshan Khanzada, clarified at the time that there were “no restrictions on work visas” for Pakistanis heading to the Gulf nation.
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