ABU DHABI, Jul 4 (APP):The Pakistan embassy in Abu Dhabi has warned its citizens not to travel to the UAE on visit visas without the required documentation, or they risk being sent back home.
It also cautioned Pakistanis against traveling on tourist permits with the intention of seeking employment, without having concrete job offers in place.
The alert follows a rise in cases of Pakistani workers declined entry at UAE airports due to insufficient documents over the past eight months, Faisal Niaz Tirmizi, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UAE, said adding that there was no ban on Pakistani citizens entering the UAE.
However, he said the embassy and consulate staff received numerous calls from Pakistanis on UAE visit visas at Dubai and Abu Dhabi airports who were asked to return home as they did not have the required documents, accommodation and funds to cover their stay.
“The message we want to send across is that even on visit visa you need at least Dh3,000, valid hotel accommodation and a return air ticket,” Mr Tirmizi said while talking to an Abu Dhabi based newspaper “The National”.
He said they should only travel to the UAE when all their documentation is complete. Unfortunately, these are workers looking for a job who think once they are here they will be able to find one, he added.
“We want to tell them to travel here once they have a clear offer from a company and the necessary documentation otherwise it’s shooting an arrow in the dark.”
Airport authorities in the UAE have tightened rules requiring visitors to have a return ticket, a hotel booking and a minimum of Dh3,000 for their stay to prevent the entry of jobseekers who overstay their visit visas.