ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia 24 hour visa Pakistani workers will be processed within a day, under an assurance given by the Saudi ambassador in Islamabad this week. The promise was made during a meeting on 5 November, and it raises hopes of faster jobs for the thousands of Pakistanis who seek work in the Kingdom each year. If the pledge works in practice, workers will no longer wait for weeks at the final stage of their visa process.
The assurance came from Saudi Ambassador Dr Rajeh bin Thamer Al-Baqmi, who met the federal minister for overseas Pakistanis in Islamabad. The ambassador said Saudi Arabia would extend all possible facilities to Pakistani workers, including cooperation to issue their visas within 24 hours. He also pledged support for resolving the problems faced by Pakistanis who already live and work in the Kingdom. The meeting was held at a time when both countries are trying to deepen their economic and labour ties.
The Pakistani side was led by Chaudhry Salik Hussain overseas Pakistanis minister, who holds the federal portfolio for overseas Pakistanis and human resource development. He raised the problems of Pakistani workers in Saudi Arabia and asked for faster processing of their cases. The minister also spoke about new employment opportunities for Pakistanis in the Saudi labour market, where demand for workers remains strong. Both sides agreed that slow paperwork should not stand in the way of a worker who already has a job offer.
The two countries also agreed to set up a joint working group Pakistan Saudi employment officials will run, to deal with labour issues quickly and to build closer institutional cooperation. The group is meant to take up problems as they arise, rather than leaving them for the next formal meeting. It will also work on human resource development, so that Pakistani workers reach Saudi Arabia with the skills that employers there need. A standing group of this kind can matter more than a single promise, because it gives workers a channel to raise problems.
The 24 hour pledge is separate from an earlier step, and the same day visa processing Saudi embassy Islamabad introduced in late October should not be mixed up with it. The embassy in Islamabad began processing visa applications on the same day they were submitted, after the ambassador met Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik on 30 October. That step covers the embassy stage of the process for Pakistani citizens, and it was announced alongside talks on energy, oil storage, refinery upgrades and mineral resources. The new 24 hour assurance is aimed more directly at workers, and it came from the meeting with the overseas Pakistanis minister.
Workers and their families should still be careful about what the promise means in practice. Same day processing does not mean same day approval, and a visa is only issued when the applicant meets all the requirements. For most workers, the sponsor in Saudi Arabia must first secure the visa approval, and the applicant must then complete biometrics and a medical test. The embassy has not said which visa categories the faster service covers, and it has not announced any special fee or agent channel. Applicants should not pay agents who promise a same day visa for extra money.
The timing is important, because Saudi Arabia is one of the largest employers of Pakistani workers abroad, and money sent home by overseas Pakistanis is a lifeline for the economy. Remittances from the Gulf support millions of families, and a faster visa process means a worker can join a new job on time and start earning sooner. Delays in visas have cost workers their job offers in the past, when employers moved on to workers from other countries. A reliable 24 hour turnaround would remove one of the biggest risks in the journey abroad.
The two countries are also building closer economic ties in other fields, and the Pakistan Minerals Investment Forum November 12 event in Islamabad is part of that push. The petroleum minister invited the Saudi vice minister of mining, Khalid al-Mudaifer, to attend the forum on 12 and 13 November, to discuss mining and minerals cooperation. Saudi Arabia has also rolled over financing for Pakistan and signed energy and defence understandings with Islamabad in recent weeks. The visa step fits into that wider partnership, and it shows that labour is now part of the economic agenda.
Readers should note two points of care in this story. First, the spelling of the ambassador name varies across reports, with Al-Baqmi, Al-Baqami and Al-Buqami all used, and this article uses the spelling given by Suno News and Bloom Pakistan. Second, the 24 hour visa pledge is an assurance given in a meeting, and no published procedure has yet been seen that sets out how it will work. The test will come when workers start applying, and families should confirm the process with the embassy before they travel.
Also Read:
FBR Tax Collection Misses Target by Rs96bn in Four Months
Previous:
Weekly Inflation Rises 0.29pc as Tomato Prices Soar
Next:
