The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is positive that left-arm pacer Muhammad Amir will receive a visa to travel to the UK for the series against England.
According to a PCB official quoted by a foreign media agency, Amir cannot directly apply for a visa for a certain period due to his status of a convicted offender but an exception can be made for him.
“The good thing is that he wasn’t technically deported from the UK like the other two — Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif — in the spot fixing case,” the official said.
PCB’s legal advisor Tafazzul Rizvi also informed that Amir was “administratively removed” from the UK unlike Butt, who was deported after serving half of his sentence.
“Butt can’t apply for a visa until 2020 but in Amir’s case, there is a chance and the PCB is pursuing his case separately just as it did when the Pakistan team went to New Zealand last winter,” said Rizvi as quoted by foreign media.
Rizvi added that the New Zealand Cricket Board cooperated with Pakistan and they are expecting the same from England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
“Even in this case, the ECB is helping us as much as they can in preparing a case for an exception to be made in Amir’s case,” he said.
Rizvi also said that Amir was the first to confess and cooperate with the authorities in investigations which helped him gain sympathy.
“Every country has its own laws and rules and it is their absolute discretion what they decide. Even after a visa is issued, a country’s immigration authorities can refuse entry,” he added.