The United Arab Emirates has rejected claims regarding a supposed visa ban on Pakistani nationals.
In a statement to the media, the UAE ambassador clarified that no new restrictions have been placed on visa issuance for Pakistanis, calling the reports “false and misleading.”
Moreover, Pakistan’s Foreign Office has also refuted the reports, adding that that Pakistani applicants are still being processed under standard visa procedures.
The Foreign Office spokesperson suggested that the confusion may have originated from outdated information referenced during a recent parliamentary committee briefing, which may have been misinterpreted.
On Thursday, Pakistani media claimed that the UAE had halted issuing visas to Pakistanis, quoting Additional Interior Secretary Salman Chaudhry’s statement before the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights.
Salman Chaudhry said that although UAE had not imposed a formal ban, it had limited visa issuance, granting them only to holders of blue and diplomatic passports. He cautioned that any official ban, if imposed, would be difficult to reverse.
Committee chair Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri later confirmed Chaudhry’s comments, saying that the restrictions were linked to concerns over certain travelers engaging in criminal activities abroad. She added that only a very small number of visas had recently been issued, and only after considerable scrutiny.
It is worth mentioning that Pakistan and the UAE continue to maintain strong diplomatic, economic, and cultural ties.
