UAE Halts Visas For Pakistanis Amid Rising Cases Of Begging And Crime

The United Arab Emirates has stopped issuing visas to Pakistani citizens over concerns that they were "getting involved in criminal activities" after reaching the UAE.

Additional Interior Secretary of Pakistan, Salman Chaudhry, disclosed the development during a meeting of the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights. Chaudhry also said that once the ban is imposed, it will be difficult to get it removed, per a report by Pakistani newspaper Dawn.

Overseas Employment Promoter Aisam Baig said the UAE government was worried that Pakistanis on "visit visas, not work visas" resort to begging in the country.

The UAE is currently only issuing visas to holders of blue and diplomatic passports.

Pakistani Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri, chair of the Senate committee on human rights, stated that only a handful of citizens were granted visas "after much difficulty".

Earlier, the UAE had made it mandatory for visa applicants to provide a character certificate provided by the police.

Gulf countries and cities, especially Dubai and Abu Dhabi, are preferred by millions of Pakistani travellers and job seekers. More than 8,00,000 Pakistanis apply for visas to Gulf and Middle Eastern countries each year.

In December 2024, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and several other Gulf countries imposed an indefinite ban on granting visas to people from at least 30 different cities of Pakistan, following an alarming rise in the number of cases where Pakistani nationals were caught begging or being involved in smuggling, drug trafficking, human trafficking and other criminal offences abroad.

Podcaster Nadir Ali said in an interview, "Saudi Arabia and Dubai were popular destinations, but have now stopped giving visas. I too had to face a great difficulty when I wanted to go for the IIFA Awards. In fact, Saudi Arabia has given a warning to Pakistan with regard to the increasing number of cases of beggars being caught."

The UAE is one of Pakistan's largest trading partners in the Middle East, with a large Pakistani expatriate population living and working there.