ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfiqar Bukhari has rejected reports of the United Arab Emirates’ move to ban the issuance of work visas to Pakistanis.
Taking to Twitter, Zulfiqar Bukhari said that contrary to media reports UAE Minister for Human Resources and Emiratisation Nasser bin Thani Al Hamli had “categorically stated that there is no ban on the export of Pakistani workforce.
The special assistant informed that the UAE was given priority to those workers, who were registered on the Virtual Labour Market Database and had been laid off due to the economic slump caused by COVID-19 pandemic.
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-Workers including Pakistanis laid off during #Covid19 registered on Virtual Labour Market Database are given priority
-10yr golden visa applications are also being encouraged
Looking forward to continued collaboration with UAE leadership to address the issues of our diaspora— Sayed Z Bukhari (@sayedzbukhari) November 26, 2020
Bukhari went on to state that there has been an 11% increase in UAE in knowledge workers from Pakistan. The aide on overseas Pakistanis further stated that 10-year golden visa applications are also being encouraged.
Zulfi Bukhari also thanked Thani Al Hamli for his continued support. “Looking forward to continued collaboration with UAE leadership to address the issues of our diaspora,” he added.
The tweets come a day after media reports that the UAE had temporarily stopped issuing new visas to citizens of Pakistan, Afghanistan and several mostly Muslim majority countries over security concerns.
Last week, the Foreign Office informed that the UAE had stopped processing new visas for Pakistani citizens and those of some other countries. It said it was seeking information from the UAE on the reason for the suspension but that it thought it was related to the coronavirus pandemic.
