https://arab.news/rafav
- In 2011, Kuwait had suspended visas for nationals of five countries, including Pakistan, over security concerns
- Pakistanis in Gulf will be able to visit Kuwait with online visa
ISLAMABAD: Kuwait will ‘immediately’ resume the granting of business and family visas to Pakistani nationals, Minister for Interior Shaikh Rasheed said in a series of tweets on Sunday after a meeting with Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah.
Kuwait had suspended visas for nationals of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2011 over what it said was difficult security conditions in the five countries.
Pakistanis living in the Gulf will now be able to come to Kuwait with an online visa, the minister tweeted, and there would be no restrictions on technical visas in the fields of medicine and oil. Labourers will also be issued work visas under an agreement between the two countries.
“Pakistani families and the business community faced enormous problems with the Kuwaiti visa ban,” he tweeted, and lauded the role of Pakistani labour in the early development of Kuwait.
“Restoration of worker visas will create new employment opportunities for Pakistanis and business visas will boost trade between the two countries.”
In mid-March, Rasheed announced that talks were underway for Kuwaiti visas to be issued again for Pakistanis.
His visit to Kuwait follows Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s meeting with Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmed Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah on the sidelines of the Special Meeting of the General Assembly on Palestine in New York last week.