ABU DHABI: An estimated one thousand Pakistanis over the last one month have been deported by the UAE for trying to get jobs there on visit visas.

The situation has prompted the Pakistan Overseas Employment Promoters Association to write to Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis Sajid Hussain Turi. “The UAE has tightened its immigration policy for Pakistan after the misuse of its visit visa by Pakistani nationals,” the letter from the chairman Syed Rehmat Ali Shah says. “Now, visas are not being issued on passports issued from 20 cities of Pakistan.”

Mandi Bahauddin and Attock are two of the cities on the list of 20 where people are being rejected for visit visas.

Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah immigration has banned these Pakistan birth cities for visas

1. Larkana
2. Hunza
3. Parachinar
4. Attock
5. Nawabshah
6. Sukkur
7. Kohat
8. Hangu
9. Muzzafargarh
10. Skardu
11. Kotli, AJK
12. Kurram district
13. Dera Ismail Khan
14. Dera Ghazi Khan
15. Bajaur
16. Mohmand
17. Sheikhupura
18. Toba Tek Singh
19. Khushab

If people apply for a visa who was born in any of the above-mentioned cities their visa will most likely be rejected and the fee will not be refunded.

“Now, the conditions of a six-month bank statement and 5,000 dirhams have been imposed for visit visas to Pakistanis,” the chairman’s letter said.

“Fake agents are sending innocent people to the UAE on visit visas for hundreds of thousands of rupees. The Government of Pakistan should take a stern action against the fake agents,” it stated.

“People, coming to the UAE on visit visas, do not get jobs due to lack of documents and are forced to beg. The professional promoters are being discredited due to fraudulent agents,” it points out.

Shahbaz Zeb Khan, the POEPA secretary, told Aaj News that this is affecting unskilled, low-skilled and semi-skilled workers. POEPA is going to launch a video to help people understand the rules and apply legally.

The problem is that the agents are sending people on visit visas but when they don’t get jobs the workers don’t go back. They are deported eventually and the UAE authorities see their address on the CNIC and add their city or area to the blacklist.

According to Shahbaz Zeb Khan, people have become more desperate for jobs, understandably, since Covid but they are trying to take the easy way out. It costs about Rs150,000 for a worker who will get a 1,000 dirham job to go through the proper channel. This fee involves paying for the plane ticket and employment visa based on a company letter. It is about Rs200,000 for a job with a salary of 1,500 dirhams and over. The rule of thumb is that a worker should be able to cover the cost of applying in three salaries.