Are UAE and Saudi Arabia banning Pakistanis?

The already dented image of Pakistan has suffered another major blow. This time, the setback comes from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after it has halted issuing regular visas to Pakistani nationals, citing begging rings, street crime, and visa overstays, the Dawn reported. 

The UAE has unofficially halted visa issuance for Pakistani passport holders, except for blue and diplomatic passports, the Interior Secretary Salman Chaudhry told Pakistan’s Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights. 

He further said that both “UAE and Saudi Arabia have stopped short of imposing a complete ban” on the Pakistani passport, adding that “if the ban is getting imposed, then removing it would be difficult,” the newspaper quoted Chaudhry as saying.     

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So, does this mean the UAE, Saudi Arabia don’t want Pakistanis anymore? What do the new visa reforms say? Was a full passport ban ‘on the table’? 

Reasons for UAE halt on visas to Pakistan   

Addressing the matter, Interior Secretary Salman Chaudhry said that both countries, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have stopped issuing visas to Pakistani nationals over “criminal activities”.   

Confirming the same, Pakistani Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri, chair of the Senate committee on human rights, was quoted by Dawn as saying, “These restrictions stem from repeated incidents where Pakistani visitors were found engaged in unlawful activities inside.”   

According to her, there are growing concerns that Pakistani citizens are entering the UAE and getting involved in criminal activities. She further added that only a handful of visas were been granted recently, “and those too after much difficulty”.   

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The move by UAE comes after Saudi Arabia imposed a ban on granting visas to nationals belonging to 30 different Pakistani cities, citing cases where they were caught begging. In fact, earlier this year, Saudi Arabia arrested and deported over 4,700 Pakistani beggars, particularly in Mecca and Madina, the Dawn reported. 

A full passport ban also a possibility 

Following UAE’s move, authorities in Islamabad have pointed out that the restriction could even escalate into a full ban on passports.   

Chaudhary warned that, “If a ban is imposed, getting it removed would be difficult.” 

This new UAE visa reform will affect different categories of visas, including tourist, visit, and work permits for Pakistani nationals. 

Additional Interior Secretary Salman Chaudhry stated that the nation is currently issuing visas only to blue and diplomatic passports. For government officials, a blue passport is reserved, while Pakistani travellers are on the green passport. 

The UAE Ambassador to Pakistan, Salem M Salem AI Bawab AI Zaabi, briefed Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on new visa reform measures for Pakistani citizens. 

During the briefing, the ambassador highlighted reforms including online applications, e-visas without passport stamping, and faster digital linkages, among others, according to the Finance Ministry.   

Several reports suggest that, in December last year, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and several other Gulf countries declared that police verification would now be required for Pakistani travellers. 

A look at past criminal activities   

Earlier this year, two men from the Indian state of Telangana were killed, and a third was injured in an attack, allegedly by a Pakistani national shouting religious slogans in a Dubai bakery where they worked, as reported by India Today. 

Ashtapu Premsagar,35, hailed from Soan village in Nirmal district, was killed with a sword on April 11, his uncle A Poshetty told PTI. 

Premsagar had been employed by the bakery for the past five years. He last visited his family two years ago, Poshetty said, according to India Today reports. 

Poshetty urged the government to help bring his mortal remains to India. 

The authorities in the UAE have repeatedly warned that organised groups from different countries exploit visit visas to engage in “unlawful behaviour”, and the major portion are related to the arrest of Pakistani nationals, as India Today’s report mentioned. 

Number of Pakistani nationals applying for Middle East visas 

Over 8,00,000 Pakistanis apply for visas to Gulf and Middle Eastern countries each year, eying better opportunities and economic stability, according to the official data. 

However, several of them get involved in criminal activities. In 2018, Dubai’s head of security, Dhahi Khalfa, had in a string of tweets, accused Pakistani citizens of bringing drugs into Gulf countries. 

He even went further and advised people in his country to “not hire Pakistanis”.

With inputs from agencies