A WEEK ago I got a call from a former colleague from Saudi Arabia who is also a good friend. He wanted my help in getting him a visa to Pakistan to explore some investment opportunities in the steel manufacturing.

He said that the Pakistani embassy in Riyadh had told him that a visa on arrival (which cost $90) was no longer an option and instead he would have to pay $960 for a visit visa or $1,334 for a business visa. These are high rates by any standard and he wanted my help in acquiring a visa at a lower price.

After a lengthy research, I learnt that investors could get a visa on arrival after presenting a letter issued by the commercial counselor from the Pakistani embassy but they had stopped issuing the letter as it is not honoured by the Federal Investigation Agency and in some cases investors were turned away.

This had embarrassed the officials involved and thus the embassy stopped issuing letters to investors. I then explored some other options to waive the fee or reduce it but was told that the ambassador had been told by the ministry of foreign affairs not to do so.

In the end my friend applied for a visit visa as he wanted to make it to his meetings in Pakistan. In order for him to get that visa, I had to get an affidavit made taking full responsibility for his stay.

I feel that we have to use our diplomatic outposts to go an extra mile to engage overseas investors. These missions should be given some commercial objectives so that they facilitate potential investors. Investors are ready and willing to come to Pakistan owing to some great sales pitches by Prime Minister Imran Khan but we have to keep in mind that they are a fickle lot and we can’t succeed with this attitude.

Waleed Sadiq
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2018