The United Arab Emirates has resumed issuing visit visas to Pakistani citizens who apply through registered travel agencies, Arab News has reported, quoting travel industry representatives and a UAE embassy official.
The development has reduced months of uncertainty that affected travel between Pakistan and one of its most important overseas destinations.
Around 1.8 million Pakistanis live in the UAE. The Gulf country also remains one of Pakistan’s largest sources of remittances.
For several months, Pakistani applicants complained about long processing delays and stricter checks. However, officials in Islamabad and Abu Dhabi repeatedly said the UAE had not imposed an official visa ban on Pakistani nationals.
Family Visa Applications See Improvement
Travel industry officials said families have seen the most significant improvement. Applications that previously faced lengthy delays are now moving through the process more smoothly.
“The UAE embassy in Pakistan has started issuing visas to Pakistani tourists traveling with families, which is a positive development,” said Muhammad Nadeem Sharif, chief executive of Aroma Travels and former chairman of the Travel Agents Association of Pakistan.
Sharif said applicants traveling with their families or planning to join relatives already living in the UAE were receiving responses on time.
He added that tourism promotion campaigns had restarted. Meanwhile, passenger traffic was gradually recovering after falling during recent regional tensions.
Passenger Traffic to Dubai Increases
Immigration figures also indicate that travel from Pakistan to the UAE is increasing.
A senior Pakistani immigration official said that around 400 passengers were traveling from Pakistan to Dubai each day by the final week of July.
Earlier this summer, the daily number stood at about 170 passengers.
However, the official said current traffic remains far below the roughly 1,000 daily passengers recorded two years ago.
Muhammad Hanif Rinch, an office bearer of the Travel Agents Association of Pakistan, also reported an improvement in visa approvals.
He said family visa applications had recently achieved greater success after individual Pakistani applicants faced high rejection rates for several years.
“The situation has improved since last week and more Pakistanis traveling with families are getting visas,” Rinch said.
He added that families currently represent about 10 percent of Pakistani visitors traveling to the UAE.
UAE Embassy Confirms Visas Are Open
An official at the UAE embassy in Pakistan confirmed that authorities were issuing visit visas to ordinary Pakistani passport holders who applied through registered travel agents.
“I don’t have the complete information, but visas are open through travel agents for ordinary passports,” the official said.
The official said some areas had previously experienced processing delays because of safety and security concerns.
However, applicants with complete documents can now submit their visa applications without difficulty, he added.
Stricter Checks Followed Documentation Concerns
The improvement follows months of concern about the processing of UAE visas for Pakistani citizens.
In April last year, Pakistan’s interior ministry said Islamabad and Abu Dhabi had agreed to take the necessary steps to make visa issuance easier.
The agreement followed a meeting between Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and his Emirati counterpart.
Later, Pakistan’s foreign ministry informed parliament that some applicants had submitted forged academic degrees, diplomas and employment contracts.
The ministry also said some Pakistani citizens had faced legal action in the UAE over unauthorized political activities, criminal offenses and the misuse of social media.
As a result, UAE authorities introduced stricter background checks and documentation requirements for visa applicants.
Via: Arab News
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