A senior Interior Ministry official has revealed that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has stopped issuing most visas to Pakistani citizens and had even considered banning the Pakistani passport altogether. The update was shared during a briefing to a Senate panel, according to a common national daily.
Additional Interior Secretary Salman Chaudhry informed the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights that both Saudi Arabia and the UAE had “stopped short of imposing a ban on the Pakistani passport”. He cautioned that such a ban would be extremely difficult to reverse once enforced. For now, the UAE is only issuing visas to holders of blue and diplomatic passports. Blue passports are used by government officials, while regular citizens travel with green passports.
Committee chairperson Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri confirmed these details and said the visa restrictions are linked to concerns about Pakistani travellers “getting involved in criminal activities” in the UAE. She noted that only a very small number of visas had been approved in recent months and that these were issued “after much difficulty”.
The disclosure came on the same day the UAE Ambassador to Pakistan Salem M. Salem Al Bawab Al Zaabi met Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb to discuss new visa facilitation steps for Pakistani applicants. According to the Finance Ministry, the ambassador outlined improvements such as online applications, e-visas without passport stamping, improved digital systems, and processing at the newly launched UAE Visa Centre, which is currently handling around 500 applications each day.
Pakistan and the UAE share long standing diplomatic and economic ties. The UAE hosts a large Pakistani workforce and is an important source of remittances. However, Pakistani travellers have faced repeated visa challenges this year. In early July, a rise in rejections led Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi to take up the matter with UAE officials. UAE Lt Gen Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan had assured Pakistan of support in speeding up the visa approval process at that time.
Earlier in April, the UAE ambassador had announced that visa issues were resolved and that Pakistanis would be eligible for a five year visa. Despite this, the Senate Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis was told in January that some UAE visas had been “unofficially closed”, partly because some travellers on visit visas were involved in begging instead of genuine work.
While work visas are reported to be unaffected, uncertainty remains for Pakistani citizens with ordinary green passports who are seeking visit visas.
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