South African cricketer Tahir issued visa for Independence Cup

ISLAMABAD, Sep 6 (APP): South African cricketer Muhammad Imran
Tahir who would be featuring in the Independence Cup scheduled to be
held in Lahore this month had been issued visa by the Pakistan
Consulate Birmingham that were lacking due to insufficient documentation.
Imran Tahir and his family approached the Pakistan Consulate Birmingham
on September 4, for issuance of visa for himself, his wife, son and mother-in-law, a press release said.
The consul general received Tahir in his office, and explained
to him that issuing visa to third country nationals requires
additional processes as Tahir as well as his three family members
are holders of South African passports.
Consulate staff assisted him in filling out the visa
applications. The visa applications are handled by Gerry’s but, as
a special case, his (Tahir’s) applications were directly accepted by
the consulate. It may be noted that the normal visa processing time
is five working days.
When the high commissioner came to know about the matter, he
immediately intervened and gave necessary approval after which the
visa were issued the same day. The high commissioner also spoke to
Tahir on telephone.
It is clarified that the time taken in issuing visa was due
to non filling-out four applications, non availability of supporting
documents and additional processing required in respect of visa for
holders of third country passports.