UAE envoy clears air around visa issuance to Pakistani nationals

KARACHI: Clearing the air once again on the visa issuance issue, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has rebuked the lies claiming that the country was not issuing visas to Pakistanis.

Speaking during an event in Karachi, UAE Consul General Dr Bakheet Ateeq Al Remeithi said: "A lie has been propagated for two years that the UAE was not issuing visas to Pakistanis".

"Whoever wants to get a visa should come to the UAE visa centre," added the envoy.

Reaffirming the Emirate's support for Islamabad, Remeithi said that they had orders from the government to stand with Pakistan.

Underscoring that investments were being made, the consul general said that there would be a major positive development in this regard in one to two months.

The UAE official's remarks come after Pakistan's Embassy, last week, rejected media reports, claiming that the UAE government shared a document citing reasons for imposing visa restrictions on Pakistani nationals.

The rebuttal followed after media reports claimed a visa ban on Pakistani nationals was proposed during a cabinet meeting of the UAE government.

Consul General Remeithi's assurance against a visa ban is not the first one as the country has previously rebuked such rumours back in August.

Back then, speaking to Geo News programme "Geo Pakistan" the diplomat had warned Pakistani expats living there against spreading propaganda against their country, institutions, or politicians.

"Regardless of which social media platform you use either in Pakistan or UAE, whatever you share or like leaves a digital footprint [...] whether you share, liked something good or bad [....] these things will lead to your ban [or visa rejection]," he noted.