• FO spokesperson denied UAE has banned visa visas from specific cities
• UAE has also denied reports of not issuing visas to residents of specific cities
• It was reported that UAE has blacklisted citizens of 24 cities

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office Spokesperson has confirmed that the United Arab Emirates has not banned or blacklisted the issuance of visas to Pakistanis belonging to specific cities.

“We have seen the reports. We can confirm that no such ban is in place by UAE for issuance of visas to Pakistani citizens,” Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said.

The response came in view of the queries by journalists on reports of blacklisting or a ban by the UAE on the issuance of visas to Pakistani citizens belonging to specific cities.

The UAE also strongly denied reports of not providing visas to Pakistani citizens belonging to certain cities, terming it as “fake news”.

Consulate General of the UAE Karachi Bakheet Ateeq Al Remeithi said that no such ban had been imposed by the UAE government.

It was earlier reported that UAE has stopped the issuance of visas to residents of 24 cities in Pakistan for regularly flouting immigration rules.

It stated that UAE authorities have added two more cities to the list of Pakistani cities whose residents are barred from getting visit visas.

In August, at least 80 Pakistanis were deported from the UAE for misusing their visit visas or for failing to follow regulations for entering the Gulf country.

The reasons for deportation included passengers holding visit visas but only bogus return tickets. Other reasons included not carrying sufficient money to sustain them in the country for the stated duration of their visit.

Lastly, most of those sent back told the UAE immigration authorities that they were visiting the country for work even though their passports were only stamped with visit visas.

[embedpost slug=”uae-sends-relief-goods-to-flood-victims-in-pakistan/”]