WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD – The United States may impose sanctions on Pakistan as Islamabad has reportedly refused to take back its citizen deportees and visa over-stayers.
“Consular operations in Pakistan remain unchanged. This is a bilateral issue of ongoing discussion between the US and Pakistani governments and we are not going to get into the specifics at the time”, a State Department spokesperson said on Sunday.
According to the State Department’s Federal register notification, dated 22 April, “for some countries sanctions begin by targeting officials who work in the ministries responsible for accepting the return of that country’s nationals with escalation scenarios that target family members of those officials and potentially officials of other ministries and then other categories of applicants if initial sanctions do not prove effective at encouraging greater cooperation on removals by the targeted government”.
Section 243 of the Immigration and Nationality Act provides for discontinuance of visa issuance as a penalty for those countries that refuse or “unreasonably delay” accepting the return of their deported nationals.
The US has already introduced visa restrictions on Ghana, Guyana, the Gambia, Cambodia, Eritrea, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Myanmar and Laos.
If imposed, the new visa sanction might affect thousands of visa applicants, especially students, since Pakistan enjoys the largest US-run Fulbright Program in the world.
Exactly a year ago, the Trump administration had also imposed travel restrictions on Pakistani diplomats here as well, according to which the staff needs permission at least five days ahead from US authorities if they need to travel outside of the imposed 25 miles radius.
