Officials from Pakistan’s Ministry of Interior say that the United Arab Emirates does not issue work visas to Pakistanis and that there were concerns in that a ban might be imposed on traveling to UAE with a Pakistani passport.
According to a report by Pakistan’s private television channel, Deputy Interior Minister Salman Chaudhry told the Senate or the human‑rights committee of that country’s parliament—that “it was close to a ban being imposed on travel to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates with a Pakistani passport.”
He added that if such a ban had been imposed, lifting it would have been a very costly undertaking.
The Pakistani official says that, for the time being, visas to that country are being issued only to holders of the blue “special passport that is given to government officials and certain personalities” and to those who possess diplomatic Pakistani passports.
According to Mr. Chaudhry, several months ago a number of people were expelled from Saudi Arabia on charges of violating certain legal and customs regulations.
Pakistan’s media reported last month that Saudi Arabia alone had arrested more than five thousand Pakistanis on charges of begging or vagrancy and sent them back to Pakistan.
Meanwhile, the deputy of Pakistan’s Ministry of Interior, while providing information to the Senate, claimed that in the United Arab Emirates many Afghans also reside with Pakistani documents.
In the report, he was quoted as saying that people from neighboring countries have “interfered in our system and obtained passports.” However, he admitted, “We also bear responsibility in this,” and said that financial corruption would play a major role in it.
On the other hand, Senator Samina Mumtaz Zahri, who chairs the Human Rights Committee in Pakistan’s Senate, confirmed the statements made by officials from the Ministry of Interior in an interview with Pakistan’s media.
She says the committee was told that the United Arab Emirates does not issue visas to Pakistanis, and that in recent times, “after many difficulties,” very few visas have been granted.
At the same time, a report by Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper quoted a senior UAE official in Pakistan—who asked not to be named saying that the social‑media rumors claiming a visa ban on Pakistanis are false. When asked about the “ban,” he told that “there is no visa ban for Pakistani citizens.”
In the report, it is added that the United Arab Emirates’ ambassador to Pakistan, Salim M. Salim al‑Bawab al‑Zabi, together with Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, announced “major reforms in the UAE’s visa facilitation for Pakistanis.”
The ministry said that during their meeting in Islamabad they discussed online visa acquisition, e‑visas issued without a passport stamp, and fast‑track linkages between systems.
It was added in the statement that at the newly opened UAE visa center in Pakistan, about 500 visas are processed each day.
