Interior ministry official says UAE not issuing visas to Pakistani citizens

Additional Interior Secretary Salman Chaudhry on Thursday informed the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has stopped issuing visas to Pakistani citizens.

According to a media report, he said that currently only holders of official and diplomatic passports are being granted visas, while ordinary passport holders face restrictions.

Chaudhry clarified that neither the UAE nor Saudi Arabia has formally imposed a ban on the Pakistani passport, but he warned that if a ban were to be enforced, reversing it would be challenging.

Quoting Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri, chairperson of the Senate human rights committee, the report said that the restrictions are due to concerns about people potentially engaging in criminal activities while abroad.

She added that only a very limited number of visas have been issued in recent months, and obtaining them has been extremely difficult.

The matter was raised during the committee’s session, which discussed challenges faced by Pakistanis travelling abroad and ongoing efforts by authorities to address the situation.