KARACHI: Italy has announced to grant 10,500 visas to Pakistani nationals to promote legal migration and exempt diplomatic passport holders from visa requirements, Pakistan’s interior ministry said on Wednesday.
The development took place during a meeting between Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and his Italian counterpart Matteo Piantedosi to review internal security relations and measures to prevent illegal immigration.
Pakistan intensified action against illegal migration in 2023 after hundreds of migrants, including many Pakistanis, drowned when an overcrowded vessel sank off the Greek town of Pylos, making it one of the deadliest boat disasters in the Mediterranean.
Authorities continue to target smuggling networks sending citizens abroad through dangerous routes, following heightened scrutiny at airports and a series of arrests involving forged documents.
“10,500 work visas will be issued for Pakistan’s skilled labor force to promote legal migration,” Piantedosi was quoted as saying by the ministry in its statement. “On the demand of Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Pakistani diplomatic passport holders will be exempted from Italian visas.”
The ministry said the discussions also focused on strengthening cooperation to more effectively combat drug trafficking, human smuggling and militancy.
It quoted Naqvi as saying that strict airport and sea borders surveillance had helped reduce illegal immigration.
“The achievements of Pakistani institutions in preventing human trafficking and drugs are commendable,” the ministry quoted Piantedosi as saying. “We will increase mutual cooperation to promote legal migration.”
Pakistan said last year it had achieved a 47 percent drop in illegal immigration to Europe in 2025, with more than 1,700 human smugglers arrested as part of an expanded nationwide crackdown.
The country also announced in December plans to roll out an artificial intelligence-based immigration screening system in Islamabad to detect forged travel documents and prevent illegal departures.
Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency released a list of more than 100 of the country’s “most wanted” human smugglers in September while identifying major hubs of trafficking activity in the country.
