— Officials say there is no system available which may indicate expiry of foreigners’ visas
— Interior ministry has no record available regarding foreigners’ purpose of visit to Pakistan
The country has no central database to indicate the expiry of visa issued to the foreign nationals; on top of that, there is no record available to even tell the purpose of foreigners’ visit to Pakistan, it has been learnt.
Officials at the Ministry of Interior informed this scribe that the country does not have consolidated data or computerised system about the number of visas issued to foreigners. Furthermore, there is no system at hand to point out the expiry of visas of foreign nationals.
“There is no system available that may indicate the expiry of visas of foreigners. And, whenever a foreigner seeks extension in his/her visa, only then the interior ministry becomes aware of the expiry of visa, and also his/her presence in the country,” the officials said, adding, “Around the globe the number of visas issued to foreigners is available in consolidated form; unfortunately, our country has not developed such a system so far.”
Officials further added, “Although we have Integrated Border Management System (IBMS)—through which FIA monitors entry and exit of foreigners—the available IBMS has no provision which may issue alert regarding the expiry of visas of foreigners visiting Pakistan.” However, efforts are under process to make the IBMS able to issue alert whenever the visa of any foreign nationals expires, they said, adding, interior ministry is planning to include a provision in IBMS system which will enable the system to flash the names of those foreigners whose visa has been expired and they have not left the country. “There is a need to establish a centralised database regarding the number of visas issued to foreigners and number of foreigners who left the country,” an official said.
It is also learnt that, presently, the interior ministry has no record available regarding the purpose of the visit of foreigners to the country. “Interior ministry has not developed such records. But, it has now directed the foreign missions to inform the ministry about the number of visas issued to foreigners on a quarterly basis and an email has been sent to our missions in this regard,” officials said.
It is pertinent to mention here that since China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)’s launch in April 2015, General Immigration and Passports have issued 33,969 visas to Chinese nationals in the categories of business and visit visas, excluding students and tourists.
Official documents available with Pakistan Today show the total number of foreign nationals who visited Pakistan from 2012 to 2017. According to details, a total of 10,170 Americans, 3,500 Indians, 9,765 Britons, 2,605 Bangladeshis, and 62,578 Chinese visited Pakistan from 2012 to 2017 along with 2,765 nationals of Saudi Arabia, 262 from Kuwait, 997 from Bahrain, 1,253 from Oman, 764 from United Arab Emirates (UAE) and 532 from Palestine.
Taking cognizance of the matter, Senate Standing Committee on Interior has also sought complete details from foreign office and interior ministry regarding the yearly figures of foreign nationals who obtained visas and paid a visit to Pakistan in the past. Available copy of visa policy for foreign nationals said that entry visas to the foreign nationals are issued by Pakistan’s foreign missions abroad, whereas visa extensions with respect to foreign nationals, including B list countries, are issued after the approval of interior ministry, and visa extensions with respect to countries in list A, business visa list and Tourist Friendly Countries (TFC) are issued by regional passport offices. However, work visas are issued by the interior ministry on the recommendation of Board of Investment (BOI). Regional passport offices are also authorised to extend tourist/visit visas with double re-entry for a maximum period of six months. Moreover, list A contains a list of 183 countries, whereas list B includes a list of seven countries. Finally, business visa list includes 67 countries and Tourist Friendly Countries (TFC) include a list of 24 countries in accordance with Pakistan’s visa policy for foreign nationals.