No change in visa policy for Pakistanis: Saudi envoy

Envoy says only people with invalid documents are being sent back

ISLAMABAD:

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday denied that there was any change in the visa policy for Pakistani national travelling to the kingdom.

Speaking with the media, Saudi envoy Nawaful Malki clarified that only those people who did not have valid documents were being asked to leave the kingdom and Pakistanis were not being targeted. He further clarified that people from other countries were also being asked to leave.

“People holding iqamas and valid visas are not being asked to leave,” he maintained.

Fears of Saudi Arabia sending back Pakistanis grew recently after UAE suspended issuing new visas to citizens of 13 mostly Muslim-majority countries, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Syria, according to a document issued by a state-owned business park.

The authorities later clarified that the steps were being taken only as a measure to limit the spread of coronavirus.

A document, seen by Reuters, said applications for new employment and visit visas had been suspended for nationals - those outside the UAE - of 13 countries that also included Somalia, Libya and Yemen until further notice.

The ban also applies to citizens of Algeria, Kenya, Iraq, Lebanon, Tunisia and Turkey, it says. It was not clear if there were any exceptions to the ban.