Kuwait lifts ban on family, business visas for Pakistani citizens
Sheikh Rashid Ahmad (left) speaks to reporters at the Pakistani embassy in Kuwait City on Monday. AFP
After a decade-long suspension, Kuwait decided to resume granting visas to Pakistani families and businessmen. The Kuwaiti government took the decision during a meeting between Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al Khalid Al Sabah and Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed in Kuwait City.
During the meeting it was also decided that Kuwait would issue technical visas for Pakistani workers in medical and oil fields. The interior minister, who is on an official visit to Kuwait, handed over a special letter of Prime Minister Imran Khan to his Kuwaiti counterpart and also discussed with him the matters related to Kuwaiti visas for Pakistani expats.
Kuwait decided to reinstate the immigration policies from before the decade-long blockade of visas and has allowed family and work permits with immediate effect.
Pakistan on Monday lauded the cooperation of Kuwait in resumption of visas for Pakistani families and businessmen after a decade-long suspension.
"We greatly appreciate Kuwaiti cooperation in this regard,” Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhry said in response to media queries.
The FO spokesperson said the relevant Pakistani and Kuwaiti authorities were also working together to chalk out a mechanism for export of manpower in various fields from Pakistan.
"Pakistan and Kuwait have fraternal ties, which are firmly rooted in shared faith and values. The bilateral relationship is marked by growing cooperation in diverse fields,” he said.
Chaudhry said Pakistani businessmen residing in other Gulf countries could now avail online visa facilitation for entry into Kuwait.
The foreign ministry quoted the Kuwaiti prime minister as saying that relations between the two countries spanned over seven decades and the people of the two states had been enjoying relations based on love and trust.
Meanwhile, Sheikh Rashid, while thanking Kuwaiti prime minister, said that after the decision of restoration of visas for Pakistani citizens, huge job opportunities would be available for Pakistani nationals in Kuwait.
The minister said that Pakistani families and business fraternity faced enormous problems with the ban on Kuwaiti visa, adding that Pakistani labourers played an important role in Kuwait’s early development.
He said that Pakistanis considered Kuwait as their second home, adding that with the lifting of ban on business visa, trade between the two countries would also increase.
NNI News Service
