RAWALPINDI: A large number of people on Monday welcomed the Saudi government’s decision to reduce visit visa fee for Pakistanis and thanked Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and Prime Minister Imran Khan for it.

They said it would be highly beneficial for hundreds of thousands of Pakistani nationals working in the kingdom to invite their family members to the country on a visit visa.

Most of the Pakistanis working in Saudi Arabia were unable to invite their family members to visit them as they could not afford the visit visa fee of 2,000 riyals ($533).

The residents here said the reduction in the visa fee was a good gesture made ahead of the first official state visit to Pakistan by the crown prince of Saudi Arabia which began on Sunday and ended on Monday.

A press statement issued by the embassy of Saudi Arabia in Islamabad announced the reduction in the visit visa fee effective from Feb 15, 2019.

According to the announcement, the visit visa fee for single entry has been slashed from SR2,000 to SR338 while the fee for multiple entry visa reduced from SR3,000 to SR675.

A Pakistani, who is settled in Dammam with her husband, expressed her happiness over the announcement and said she had been unable to invite her parents to Saudi Arabia on a visit visa as it was too expressive.

“Now I could bring my parents to visit the holy places in Saudi Arabia and perform Umrah,” she told Dawn on phone.

Mohammad Asif, another Pakistani working as a technician in a heavy machinery company in Dammam, termed the reduction in the visit visa fee a longstanding desire of the families of those working in Saudi Arabia.

“Now I shall invite my elderly mother to visit Saudi Arabia,” he said.

Mohammad Arif, who is settled in Saudi Arabia, added that SR2,000 fee was unaffordable for low-paid workers.

He said: “It is for the second time that we feel that Pakistanis are given respect in Saudi Arabia after Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s government. When Mr Bhutto visited Saudi Arabia in 1970s, Pakistanis were recognised in the Arab world and given values as Muslims. Now the same has happened after a long time due to the crown prince’s visit to Pakistan.”

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2019