The Foreign Office (FO) on Friday rejected what it called an “impression” that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has put a ban on issuing visas to Pakistani nationals.

Addressing a weekly media briefing, FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said granting of visas to any individual is the “sovereign right and decision of the country concerned”.

“We do not subscribe to the impression that there is a ban on visas for Pakistani nationals as Pakistani nationals continue to travel to the UAE,” she said in reply to a query from Business Recorder.

“Any issues that arise with respect to the issuance of visas and stay of Pakistani nationals in the UAE are important agenda items between Pakistan and the UAE, and we continue to discuss these issues with the government of the United Arab Emirates,” Baloch added.

The UAE has reportedly expressed concerns over the increasing number of Pakistani nationals involved in criminal activities. As per a claim, more than 5,000 Pakistani nationals are currently languishing in different UAE prisons.

“I cannot confirm the figures…..regarding the number of Pakistanis in prisons in the UAE,” the FO spokesperson said when asked about the toll.

However, in an interview with Business Recorder last month, Ambassador to the UAE Faisal Niaz Tirmizi acknowledged the visa situation facing Pakistanis, adding that he had seen “some improvement, but not a lot”.

His remarks had come on the sidelines of GITEX GLOBAL 2024 in Dubai, where the emirate city played host to nationals from over 180 countries.

However, despite its global scale, hundreds of Pakistanis were left behind as visas became harder to come by. Several startup owners, IT professionals and even tourists Business Recorder reached out to said visit visas – normally a sure-shot for Pakistanis – had been rejected over the past several months with GITEX GLOBAL bringing the situation to the forefront.

Some travel agents, largely the go-betweens for visa issuance, also suggested that men travelling alone or without their families and under the age of 45 were especially likely to see rejection.

Earlier this month, a parliamentary panel failed to utter a single word against Dubai authorities for stopping issuance of visas to Pakistani citizens for the last one year without citing any valid reason.

Like the other members of the committee, Senator Zeeshan Khanzada who was presiding over the meeting of Senate Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis, remained tight-lipped despite receiving numerous complaints from the expatriates against the “highhandedness” of the UAE authorities for “persecuting” Pakistani citizens who either intend to go to the UAE or have been living there for several years.