ISLAMABAD: Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salem Al-Zaabi, the ambassador of the UAE to Pakistan, called on Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday and briefed him on steps being taken to streamline visas for Pakistanis, the foreign office said. 

The meeting comes after months of widespread media reporting on a decline in visas for Pakistanis by the UAE and a decrease in overall overseas employment for nationals of Pakistan, allegedly due to their lack of respect for local laws and customs and for participating in political activities and sloganeering while abroad.

On Wednesday, the issue came up in a meeting in Islamabad between Dar and Al-Zaabi.

“The ambassador briefed the DPM on the steps being taken to streamline the visa processes including augmenting human resource. These steps will cut the delays and expedite the visa processing,” the foreign office said in a statement after the meeting.

Last month, in response to questions about reports that the UAE had implemented a visa ban for Pakistanis, the spokesperson for the foreign office said:

“I would like to reiterate that according visa to any individual is the sovereign right and decision of the country concerned and secondly, we do not subscribe to this impression that there is a ban on visa for Pakistani nationals.

“If there are any issues that arise with respect to issuance of visas and stay of Pakistani nationals in the UAE, that are important agenda items between Pakistan and the UAE and we continue to discuss them.”