New service : Special desks set up for emigrants at airports

Pakistanis travelling abroad can get NICOP, protectorate stamps on spot.

KARACHI:

Pakistanis travelling abroad for jobs will now be able to acquire necessary certifications like the protectorate stamp at the airport, avoiding the trouble of being turned away moments before departure.

A stamp from the Protectorate of Emigrants is imperative for all people travelling abroad on a work permit. Travellers have often been sent back from airports just because of the missing stamp.

Under a new arrangement, multiple government agencies have agreed to depute officers for addressing the complaints of expatriates, who face red tape and harassment in verification of their documentation.

“No one will now have to pay any bribe just to catch a flight on time,” said Hafiz Ahsaan Khokhar, registrar of the grievance commission for overseas Pakistanis. “Ultimately, we’ll have a system of checking everything online so none of the officers can raise unnecessary objections on any document.”

The FIA, Directorate General of Immigration and Passports, Bureau of Immigration and Overseas Employment, Ministry of Religious Affairs, Overseas Pakistanis Foundation, Civil Aviation Authority and other agencies will collaborate to man facilitation desks at nine international airports. The system has already been rolled out at Islamabad and Lahore airports and will be implemented at the Karachi airport from August 6.



Expatriates have long complained their contribution to the economy has never been truly appreciated, as evident from the cumbersome process they go through while travelling abroad. In the last financial year alone, the 7.5 million Pakistanis living in 124 countries across the globe sent home over $18 billion in remittances. This is just $6 billion short of the country’s annual export earnings.

Khokhar, who works under the federal ombudsman, said many complaints related to attestations of educational certificates. “What we are doing is taking everything online. Now people can track their documents.”

Before travelling, emigrants also have to go through a long process of applying for a National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP). If NICOP is not immediately processed, the applicant has to attach its submission receipt with relevant documents.

Getting the protectorate stamp involves paying fees at different bank branches, filling in affidavits and attaching copies of various documents. While the normal fee for a NICOP and protectorate stamp comes to around Rs9,000, people pay as much as Rs25,000 to agents to get the work done.

“From now on most of these issues will be sorted out right at the airport. We have asked NADRA and the protectorate office to depute Grade-16 officers for necessary approvals,” Khokhar said. “We are also in talks with banks to pay the fee at the airports.”

Women continue to suffer

It remains unclear, however, if these steps will help do away with the humiliating practice of asking working women to bring NOC from their families.

While no laws bar a woman wanting to go abroad for work with a valid visa, she has to submit signed affidavits stating she is single. Affidavits, stamp papers are sold at a small makeshift desk in the same office. In case she is married, she needs an NOC from her husband, who has to appear before the Protectorate of Emigrants. This rule is diligently enforced by the seven protectorates around the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 30^th, 2015.