Pakistan, Qatar in talks to open visa centres in Lahore and Peshawar

• New visa centres will help reduce migration cost significantly and also expedite the process, says Zulfi Bukhari.
• The upcoming two additional visa centres in other provinces of Pakistan will be of great help in improving efficiency to recruit suitable workers who will take up jobs in Qatar.

Pakistan is in talks with Qatar to open two more Qatar Visa Centres (QVC) in Lahore and Peshawar, which will also boost a significant number of manpower, said Special Assistant to Pakistan’s Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistan and Human Resource Sayed Zulfi Bukhari,

“The new visa centres will help reduce the migration cost significantly and also expedite the process. We are also taking a lot of other initiatives on our part to make the process much easier. We have such a great relationship Qatar and we need to optimise on this,” said Bukhari while meeting with prominent Qatari businesses and manpower agencies, quoted The Peninsula.

“Things have become much easier after several initiatives, such as the opening of Qatar Visa Centres (QVC) in Karachi and Islamabad,” he said.

Bukhari informed that 82,000 people Pakistanis have taken jobs in Qatar in past two years and they were provided pre-departure training by the government on various aspects of life in Qatar and the local rules.

"The initiatives taken with regard to recruitment are proving to be highly beneficial. They are not only helpful to reduce the migration cost and leg work, but also protecting the labour rights. There is a great potential and we should optimise on that,” said Kashif Ahmed, Director General for Pakistani Overseas Employment Affairs department.

He added that the upcoming two additional visa centres in other provinces of Pakistan will be of great help in terms of improving efficiency to recruit suitable workers who will take up jobs in Qatar, especially in projects for the preparations of the 2022 Fifa World Cup.