DUBAI – The Consulate General of Pakistan in Dubai says it has decided on nearly 400 Pakistani men stranded in the UAE amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nearly 200 of the 304 Pakistanis stranded at the Dubai international airport arrived from Lahore on a visit visa. Another 80 Pakistanis landed at Dubai airport on Wednesday evening without having appropriate travel conditions.
As per the new travel requirements to Dubai, passengers need to book their hotels in advance. Also, the travellers need to have 2,000 dirhams along with a return ticket with them.
The passengers who reached Dubai from Lahore and Multan requested the authorities to address their ongoing issues. “Three hundred and four Pakistanis landed in Dubai on October 13 but they were denied entry into the UAE by immigration authorities,” Deputy Consul General at Pakistan Consulate Giyan Chand stated in a press statement.
Pakistani nationals were stopped at the airport as they were not complying with the recently introduced travel requisites, he added
On the other hand, Giyan added, “Consulates has been trying to resolve with the issue with local authorities.”
The new travel conditions are introduced to keep a barrier to stop “unnecessary and extraneous” visitors from entering the Emirates, a senior travel agent said.
He said that hundreds of South Asians recently traveled had been stranded in UAE who didn’t have sufficient funds to even buy food for them.
Officials informed that these stranded Pakistanis would be sent to their home back if they wouldn’t be able to meet the state-imposed entry criteria.
A small number of travelers from Pakistan were denied entry at Dubai International Airport due to non-compliance with entry requirements for tourist visas, the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) in Dubai confirmed.
GDRFA clarified that these travelers did not have valid accommodation paperwork or a relative’s reference, also they don’t carry return ticket as required by UAE immigration rules. GDRFA also said that the vast majority of passengers that are compliant with the visa rules and arrive at Dubai International Airport face no delays upon entry.
