New checks target offloadings
Government authorities have begun pre-immigration scrutiny of passengers travelling abroad to prevent them from being offloaded at airports and suffering financial and legal difficulties.
According to official sources, the FIA, passport authorities and Protector of Emigrants staff have been mobilised at international airports across the country, including Lahore, to check passengers' travel documents before their departure.
The move follows a request by the Overseas Employment Association for the authorities to examine passengers' documents and visas before they reach the immigration counter.
Under the new arrangement, passengers travelling abroad for employment, tourism, Umrah or religious pilgrimage will undergo pre-immigration clearance by FIA immigration officials before being allowed to proceed with their international journey.
Officials said the measures were introduced following incidents involving some Pakistani passengers travelling to countries including Azerbaijan and Bahrain who subsequently disappeared, travelled illegally or were deported.
The pre-immigration process aims to prevent illegal travel and protect passengers from financial and legal complications, FIA officials said. They said passengers whose documents were incomplete or who failed to provide satisfactory answers to questions raised by immigration officials could previously face offloading at the airport at the time of departure.
Under the new mechanism, such issues would be identified and addressed before passengers reach the final stage of immigration clearance. The authorities are particularly focusing on the validity and completeness of travel documents, visas and other papers required for entry into the destination.
Officials said the initiative would also help prevent passengers from becoming victims of fraudulent or improper travel arrangements, particularly in cases involving overseas employment.
They said passengers who are offloaded after reaching the airport often suffer substantial financial losses because their air tickets and visa fees may become non-refundable. According to officials, such incidents had caused losses running into hundreds of millions of rupees to Pakistani travellers.
On September 18, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) allowed a citizen, who had been placed on a travel restriction list and offloaded at the airport, to travel abroad, while questioning the FIA's authority to take such measures under its internal standard operating procedures (SOPs).
Justice Inaam Ameen Minhas, while hearing a petition filed by the off-loaded citizen, expressed displeasure with FIA officials and directed the agency's additional director to submit a response explaining the legal basis for offloading passengers and placing their names on travel restriction lists.