UAE envoy reveals reasons hindering visa issuance for Pakistanis

KARACHI: Dr Bakheet Ateeq Al Remeithi, the Consul General of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Karachi, has explained the reasons that could hinder Pakistani citizens from obtaining visas to the Gulf country.

“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],” the envoy said while speaking no Geo News’ programme “Geo Pakistan” on Monday.

The consul general’s remarks follow his last week’s clarification where he refuted any restrictions on visa issuance to Pakistanis by the UAE after reports regarding the residents of Sindh facing difficulty in acquiring the country’s visa surfaced.

The Gulf nation has warned Pakistani expats living there against spreading propaganda against their country, institutions, or politicians with Dr Al Remeithi confirming that the country has arrested many Pakistanis of which five have been sentenced to 14 to 15 years in jail.

Last month, Secretary Overseas Pakistanis Dr Arshad briefed the Senate Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis about the problems that other nations have with Pakistanis underscored the Pakistani diaspora’s work ethics-related and revealed that it was responsible for an alarming 50% of the total crime in the UAE.

Elaborating on his government’s concerns and policies regarding visa issuance, the Gulf nation’s envoy complained that people from some nations indulge in riots if the situation in their home country deteriorates and remarked that “people have to go to hospitals, there can be some other emergencies [...] this shouldn’t happen”.

“People work round the clock here [...] blocking roads, and spreading misinformation about someone else is not part of the UAE’s culture. Our laws and regulations don’t allow this at all,” the consul general said.

Noting that the UAE government doesn’t want people to bring their home country’s issues and politics there, Dr Al Remeithi said that their government has tried to bring awareness to the Pakistani diaspora to be careful of these things.

Linking visa issuance with people’s social media activity, the diplomat confirmed that the UAE authorities do in fact scrutinise and assess visa applicants’ social media activity and advised the people to be careful about their digital footprint as every individual is a representative of their country.

Responding to a question about whether people’s Instagram, Facebook and X accounts can cause hindrances in the issuance of their visas, the envoy answered in the affirmative and said: “Yes absolutely that’s true”.

Explaining what the people should be careful about, he warned them against talking negatively about their home country in the UAE and abstain from talking on issues that have the element of incitement.

“Go enjoy your life, take your families, indulge in shopping or travel. Whatever you want to do we are with you,” he said. “We have helped and facilitated many people and issued visas to those who travel to the UAE for travel.

“We always think highly of Pakistanis [....] Some people have created a narrative that Pakistani people create problems. It’s not like that, Pakistanis are [in fact] great people,” the envoy added.

Taking the moment to ride on the Arshad Nadeem hype train, the consul general lauded the Olympic gold medallist for bringing honour and pride to the country and that too just days ahead of the Independence day

When asked whether a fixed quota was fixed for visas, the consul general replied in the negative and disclosed that the Gulf nation had issued as many as 70,000 work visas to Pakistanis in the last year and a half.

Assuring that the Pakistani business committee was being facilitated in the UAE, Dr Al Remeithi lauded the work being done by the Pakistani expats in the construction industry and advised the country’s youth to focus on information technology (IT) and artificial intelligence (AI) sectors as there were many opportunities in the UAE in these fields.

“The Pakistani youth should focus on the field of medicine as there are many opportunities for doctors in UAE,” he said. Noting that his government was trying to facilitate Pakistanis regarding visa services and document verification, the consul general said that people from Pakistan can reach out to them directly for information even if they don’t have an appointment.