Afghan nationals to get Pakistani visa within 24 hours

Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, to plug in loopholes of illegal immigration and help Afghan citizens, has approved a new visa policy for Afghan nationals, ARY News reported. 

Afghanis would be provided with a visa within 24 hours of application.

Head of Prime Minister’s Strategic Reforms initiatives, Salman Sufi issued a statement saying the Prime Minister has taken notice of the Afghan national difficulty in the immigration process and approved a new visa policy exclusively for Afghan nationals.

According to the new policy, Afghan nationals would be provided with a 30-day transit visa to Pakistan within 24 hours of the application, Salman said. The decision had been taken on Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah’s proposal, he said.

The host embassy in Pakistan and the Ministry of foreign affairs would be responsible to grant a 30-day transit visa to Afghan nationals, Sufi said.

He added, “Thereafter, upon the rece­ipt of the immigration approval, the embassy of the host country will intimate (MoFA) and the ministry will forward the case to the interior ministry for clearance within 24 hours.”

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He added that the new policy is a manifestation of the government’s solution to help Afghanis and strengthen brotherly ties with Afghanistan.