Confusion intensified on Thursday after a senior Pakistani interior ministry official told a Senate committee that the United Arab Emirates had effectively stopped issuing visas to Pakistani nationals, a claim immediately contradicted by the UAE’s diplomatic mission in Islamabad.
Briefing the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights, Additional Interior Secretary Salman Chaudhry said the UAE was no longer granting visas to ordinary Pakistani passport holders. He added that both Saudi Arabia and the UAE had “come close to placing formal restrictions on the Pakistani passport”, warning that any future ban would be extremely difficult to overturn.
According to him, only blue and diplomatic passports were currently being processed.
The statement raised eyebrows given the longstanding political, economic and cultural ties between the two nations. The UAE remains one of Pakistan’s top Middle Eastern trading partners and a key destination for Pakistani migrant workers who send home a significant share of the country’s remittances.
Committee chair Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri later confirmed the ministry official’s remarks. She said the restriction was linked to concerns about some visitors travelling to the UAE and “becoming involved in criminal activities”.
She noted that only a very small number of visas had been approved in recent months, and those “after considerable hurdles”.
However, a senior diplomat at the UAE embassy, speaking to Dawn on condition of anonymity, rejected the assertion, saying “There is no ban on visas for Pakistani citizens.”
Contradicting the Senate briefing, the UAE ambassador to Pakistan, Salem M Salem Al-Bawab Al-Zaabi, highlighted a series of newly introduced visa facilitation measures during a meeting with Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on the same day.
In a statement issued by the finance ministry, the envoy outlined reforms such as online visa applications, e-visas without physical passport stamping and faster digital linkages between the two governments.
The ministry said almost 500 visa applications were being handled daily at the newly established UAE Visa Centre in Pakistan.
Ambassador Al-Zaabi also stressed expanding cooperation in investment, trade, culture and people-to-people exchanges, acknowledging the significant role of Pakistanis living and working in the Emirates. Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening strategic and economic ties and discussed defence and technology cooperation.
The latest confusion follows earlier episodes of visa complications for Pakistanis. In July, a rise in rejections prompted Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi to take up the matter with his UAE counterpart. UAE Lt Gen Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan had assured full support and promised quicker processing.
Earlier in April, the then UAE ambassador Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salem Al-Zaabi announced that pending issues had been resolved and that Pakistanis would have access to a five-year visa option.
In January, however, the Senate Committee on Overseas Pakistanis heard that some UAE visas had been “unofficially suspended”. During the session, Overseas Employment Promoter Aisam Baig said UAE authorities were concerned about individuals entering the country on visit visas and later engaging in begging.
Committee chairman Senator Zeeshan Khanzada clarified at the time that there were “no restrictions on work visas” for Pakistanis heading to the Gulf nation.
