0
• Only diplomatic passport holders being granted visas, interior ministry official tells Senate panel
• Senator Zehri says restrictions linked to criminal activity concerns
• UAE embassy denies ban; envoy announces ‘major visa facilitation reforms’
KARACHI: Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) appeared at odds over the status of visa issuance for Pakistani citizens, after a senior interior ministry official told a Senate panel on Thursday that the Gulf nation had stopped issuing visas, while its embassy insisted that no such ban existed.
Additional Interior Secretary Salman Chaudhry informed the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights that the United Arab Emirates was not issuing visas to Pakistanis, and that Saudi Arabia and the UAE had “stopped short of imposing a ban on the Pakistani passport”.
He warned that “if a ban is imposed, getting it removed would be difficult”, adding that visas were currently being granted only to blue and diplomatic passport holders.
The revelation came even though the two countries share close diplomatic, economic and cultural ties. The UAE is one of Pakistan’s largest trading partners in the Middle East and a major source of remittances, with a sizeable Pakistani expatriate population living and working there.
Separately, Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri, who heads the Senate committee, confirmed the interior ministry official’s remarks to Dawn. She said the bar was attributed to concerns about people travelling to the UAE and “getting involved in criminal activities”.
The committee was informed that the UAE was not issuing visas to Pakistanis and that very few had been issued in recent times, only “after much difficulty”, Senator Zehri said. However, a senior diplomat at the UAE embassy, who requested anonymity, told Dawn that “there’s no ban on visas for Pakistani citizens”.
‘Visa facilitation reforms’
In contrast to the Senate proceedings, UAE Ambassador to Pakistan Salem M. Salem Al-Bawab Al-Zaabi on Thursday shared what were described as “major UAE visa facilitation reforms for Pakistanis” with Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, according to a statement issued by the finance ministry.
The reforms discussed during their meeting in Islamabad included online visa processing, e-visas without passport stamping and faster system-to-system linkages, the finance ministry said on X.
Nearly 500 visas were being processed daily at the newly launched UAE Visa Centre in Pakistan, the statement added, outlining the reforms shared by the envoy.
Ambassador Al Zaabi emphasised boosting bilateral cooperation in trade, investment and cultural ties, while “appreciating the longstanding contributions of Pakistanis working in the UAE”.
Both sides reaffirmed their resolve to strengthen the fraternal, strategic and economic partnership between their countries, the statement said. They also reviewed defence cooperation and agreed to continue working closely to unlock new opportunities in trade, investment, technology, people-to-people ties and other areas.
Past UAE visa issues
Pakistani citizens also faced visa rejections in early July, which prompted Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi to raise the issue with his UAE counterpart.
In a meeting on July 11, UAE Lt Gen Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan assured Mr Naqvi of “full support” in expediting visas for Pakistani citizens, as the Pakistani minister sought “relaxation in visa policies”. In April, then UAE Ambassador to Pakistan Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salem Al-Zaabi announced that visa issues had been resolved and Pakistanis could now avail a five-year visa.
This came after the Senate Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis was told in January that some visas to the UAE had been “unofficially closed”.
Overseas Employment Promoter Aisam Baig had informed the committee that the UAE government had reservations that Pakistanis on “visit visas, not work visas”, were resorting to begging in the country. However, the committee’s chairman, Senator Zeeshan Khanzada, said there were “no restrictions on work visas” for Pakistanis travelling to the Gulf country.
Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2025
