ISLAMABAD, Dec 22 (APP):Pakistan embassy in Kabul and its consulates in Afghanistan ensured implementation of Pakistan government’s new liberal visa policy for Afghan nationals enacted on September 29 which would facilitate movements of Afghan nationals to Pakistan.

According to a press release on Tuesday, the following measures for facilitative visa processing were taken:
Number of windows for collection of visa application forms had been increased from 7 to 17, which resulted in enhanced visas processing capacity for the applicants. Issuance of long-term multiple entry visas to all categories of visitors (one to five year visas).

Taking a forward-looking friendly step, the embassy of Pakistan in Kabul and its Consulates in Jalalabad, Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharif at the instruction of government had introduced online visa/E-visa for Afghan nationals. This enables the applicants to apply for visas online from the website visa.nadra.gov.pk on a 24/7 basis.

Separate windows had been designated for applicants for medical treatment, students and business people whereas, separate windows were also designated for female visa applicants.

Students were being issued visas for their entire duration of studies according to the education programme in Pakistan.

As a result of these measures, the embassy and the consulates had issued 150,000 visas during the months of October and November alone. In addition to this, around 12,000 online E-visas had been issued by the embassy during past one and a half month.
It was further pointed out that visas for Afghan nationals except businessmen were without any fee.

The embassy reiterated that there was no visa agent for the embassy and the applicants were advised not to pay any fee/charges in the name of facilitation to process visa to any agents or middlemen.

The embassy also thanked the Afghan authorities for assisting the embassy for managing the large number of visa applicants on daily basis.