The United Arab Emirates Imposed Temporary Visa Ban on Pakistan

A few days after Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi visited the Gulf state to raise the issue with UAE officials, Pakistan on Sunday finally acknowledged that the UAE had issued visas on the Covid 19 epidemic. Has imposed “temporary restrictions” on.

The UAE government had imposed visa bans on Pakistan and 12 other Muslim countries since November 18. The UAE has not yet given a reason for the sanctions, raising speculation that the move could be more political in nature than any other.

Pakistan was reluctant to confirm the ban because of contradictory statements by the Foreign Office and government ministers. The State Department said the ban was only on visitor visas, but recruiting agencies said work visas were also banned.

In this context, Foreign Minister Qureshi visited the UAE this week and met with the Prime Minister as well as the Foreign Minister. The visa ban was not mentioned in the statement issued by the Foreign Office and the official handout issued by the UAE. This raised the question of whether the issue was raised by Qureshi at all.

However, the Foreign Office has now issued a statement to FM Qureshi in its meetings with the UAE leadership raising issues related to visa restrictions on Pakistani nationals as well as the welfare of Pakistani expatriates in the UAE.

Appreciating the assistance extended by Pakistani residents in the UAE, FM Qureshi was assured that the visa restrictions were temporary and that the Coveted 19 epidemic was due to spread, the statement added. ۔Interestingly, India was not included in the list of countries that have faced visa restrictions, despite the fact that it has the highest number of cowardice cases.

Manpower exporters say the ban is depriving Pakistan of 800 to 1,000 jobs a day. The UAE hosts about 1.5 million Pakistani workers, a key source of repatriation.FO spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhry also quoted the statement of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as praising the 1.5 million strong Pakistani community in the UAE and their contribution to its development and prosperity. Active Partnership confirmed. Country.

The spokesman added that referring to the people-to-people contacts between the two friendly countries, the statement emphasized the “temporary nature of the recent visa bans due to the Covid 19 epidemic”.

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