iPhone | iPad
Android
Huawei
The campus is set to become the largest dedicated hub for AI and technology companies in the Middle East and North Africa
KT APPDOWNLOAD
Pakistan passport snag leaves thousands in the lurch
Up to 40,000 UAE-based Pakistani residents will have to wait up to one year to receive their new machine-readable travel documents from Islamabad — with fears delays will lead to job losses.
According to residents, who have been applying to extend their current passports in droves, they have been waiting for their passports for months, with their jobs now at risk as their UAE residence permits are about to expire and they are left without legal documents.
However, an official told Khaleej Times the embassy had recently started extending the expiry dates of passports by hand for one year to help them secure their jobs and visas.
“There is a big crowd here at the embassy for passport renewal. The problem is that we are not receiving the machine-readable passports from Islamabad. We do not print them here. All these renewal applications go to Islamabad, but it has been for some time that we have not been getting them back for some reason,” said the official, who did not wished to be identified.
It has been revealed a legal stoush between a French company, which claims it should have won a tender to issue passport lamination papers, and the Pakistan Interior Ministry who awarded the tender to an American company, has led to the delay in issuing the new machine readable passports.
The official here said to facilitate Pakistani residents in the UAE, the Embassy and the Consulate General had been extending expired passports by hand.
“Even passport offices in Pakistan are giving a year extension so those on leave back home can travel back and rejoin their works in places like the UAE. These manually extended passports are acceptable by the government and the countries they work as immigrants. Now with the massive backlog, it takes from six months to one year to issue a new book,” he said.
The fact was also conceded by Ambassador Jamil Ahmed Khan on Wednesday, saying issuance of new passports stood at over 40,000 requests from the UAE alone.
Khan said he had met people in the embassy and assured all of his support in light of the gravity of the matter, which could cause loss of jobs and cancellation of visas.
“Till the time we are able to get new machine readable passports printed, the Embassy of Pakistan would continue to extend the validity of the existing passports (by hand) to assist the community with any visa-related concerns they are facing while here in the Emirates,” Khan told the visiting applicants.
He said the mission would also approach the UAE authorities for further help with those cases facing difficulties because of the shortfall of necessary documents, while the embassy had conveyed the problems here to the Pakistani government.
Mohammed Omar, a public relations officer at a private department in the capital, told Khaleej Times he had been visiting the embassy for the renewal of more than 10 Pakistani employees’ passports for the past two months, without any success.
“The embassy is like a fish market with a flood of people coming to get their expected renewed passports and submit documents for the renewal. If I don’t get the workers’ passports renewed on time, their UAE visas will expire and they may face fines. Now they have started extending the old books for one year, but what about after that?” he asked.
According to reports, the situation was far worse in Pakistan, where passport offices are cordoned off by para-military forces.
Last week, both Karachi and Lahore passport offices were ransacked by desperate applicants, resulting in the injuries of dozens.
Asia Bibi, who is currently in Pakistan waiting to get back to the UAE, had been waiting each day for a month to get her passport renewed, before finally paying off an agent outside the office passport to get her visa manually extended — however, she fears the handwritten extension will not fly with UAE immigration authorities. - nissar@khaleejtimes.com
(With inputs from Afzal Khan in Islamabad)
More news from
Dravid's tenure comes to an end after the T20 World Cup 2024 in the USA and West Indies
Stand-in skipper Jitesh believes the absence of key England players will not affect his side's morale on Sunday
Netanyahu came under personal attack from Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for failing to rule out an Israeli government in Gaza after the war
The fund is designed to finance the production of artistic and creative works in film, music, performances, and video games
Fico has been in hospital since Wednesday when a lone gunman shot him four times, including in the abdomen
The country was one of the donor states to freeze around $450 million in funds after Israel accused 12 UNRWA staff of participating in the Hamas-led attack
This inclusive community service is available daily on Al Hamriya Beach from 6.00am to sunset