First Qatari Visa Facilitation Centre opens in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD – Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, Zulfikar Bukhari Thursday said the government is committed to the goal of filling 100,000 job vacancies in Qatar and it is in line with the prime minister's vision of creating employment opportunities in and outside the country.

Inaugurating the first Qatari Visa Facilitation Centre at Islamabad's Sector G-6 along with Ambassador of Qatar to Pakistan, Saqar Bin Mubarak, he said the incumbent government has fulfilled another electioneering promise by providing jobs to around 100,000 youth in Qatar.

He said Pakistan has become the eighth country to have a Qatari Visa Facilitation Centre for swift processing of workers’ visa. The government is also trying to export more manpower to other countries, he added.

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He expressed the optimism that this Center would ensure the protection of workers' rights by verifying contracts, reflecting mutual understanding between them.

Zulfikar Bukhari said increased job opportunities in Qatar for Pakistani manpower will pave the way for making the national economy stronger and vibrant.

He said Visa Facilitation Centre will not only bring down numbers of returning workers but also help prompt processing of documents of Pakistani job seekers and swift processing of workers' Visa to Qatar.

Pakistani skilled labor force will also be employed in the 2022 FIFA World Cup and it will also be utilized in other major ventures such as construction projects in Qatar, he added.

Mentioning the problems of Pakistanis in Saudi Arabia, he said Pakistan is also in dialogue with Qatari officials to adjust the skilled labor force coming back from Saudi Arabia in Qatar.

On this occasion, Qatari ambassador Saqar Bin Mubarak said, in the past, visa process was handled by the Qatari government, however, now applicants can get their visas processed and approved through this visa facilitation centre.

The applicants have to get done their biometric verifications at these centers. Additionally, medical tests will be conducted to certify their health and fitness. More facilitation centres will be opened in other major cities too.

He said the government is trying its best to provide facilities to the masses, while the opposition was just doing criticism for the sake of criticism.

“The PML-N leaders are even trying to take credit for the work being done by the PTI government. You can expect anything from them. It will not be surprising even if you see Ahsan Iqbal posing with some Qatari citizens on his twitter handle and claiming that he has set up a visa facilitation centre for Pakistani citizens”, he added.

Referring to the Supreme Court decision about his role as Special Assistant to Prime Minister, he said it is not only in his favour but for all the Pakistanis expatriates. “This decision is good news for the entire overseas Pakistanis,” he said.