Immigration laws: Kuwait bans visas for Pakistani, Afghan nationals

Ban was issued due to diffic­ult securi­ty condit­ions in the five countr­ies, say media report­s.

KUWAIT:

Kuwait has banned nationals from five countries, including Pakistan, from entering the Gulf country, according to immigration sources quoted by Kuwaiti media.

The ban, imposed on nationals from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, includes suspending all tourism, visit and trade visas as well as visas sponsored by spouses, Kuwaiti media reported.

The ban was attributed to the “difficult security conditions in the five countries” and to “the remarkably increasing tendency of nationals from the five countries to apply for visas to bring in relatives who faced or could face arrest by local authorities,” said the reports.

The sources said the authorities insisted that no exception in the visa application will be welcomed.

However, they also mentioned that the ban was temporary and would be lifted once the security situation was stabilised.

Pakistan has come under intense international pressure after a unilateral operation by the US on May 2, in which the world’s most wanted man Osama bin Laden was killed. Bin Laden was found hiding a stone’s throw from Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul, in the garrison town of Abbottabad.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 23^rd, 2011.