Pakistanis can now avail a five-year visa to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as “issues have been resolved”, Ambassador of the UAE to Pakistan Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salem Al-Zaabi announced on Tuesday.
The announcement came during a meeting between Sindh Governor Kamran Khan Tessori and the UAE ambassador at the Governor House in Karachi. UAE Consul General Bakheet Ateeq Al Remeithi was also present at the occasion.
“Visa issues have been resolved — Pakistanis can now obtain a five-year visa,” said UAE ambassador Al-zaabi, according to a statement released from Sindh Governor House.
The UAE ambassador also invited Governor Tessori to visit the visa center established in Karachi, the statement said.
The development comes amid multiple reports during the last many months of increased scrutiny and visa rejections for Pakistanis willing to visit Dubai and other parts of the UAE.
However, authorities on both sides have rejected the reports, stating there was no ban on UAE visas to Pakistanis.
In November last year, Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) rejected what it called an “impression” that the UAE had put a ban on issuing visas to Pakistani nationals.
Addressing a weekly media briefing, then FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said granting of visas to any individual was the “sovereign right and decision of the country concerned”.
“We do not subscribe to the impression that there is a ban on visas for Pakistani nationals as Pakistani nationals continue to travel to the UAE,” she said in reply to a query from Business Recorder then.
In an interview later in December, the UAE consul general also categorically rejected the impression that the UAE was rejecting visas to Pakistanis, emphasising that Pakistan remained a top priority for the UAE for business and investment.
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