Pakistan has extended the e-visa facility available to the residents of 175 countries to another 16 nations after Federal Cabinet approved the extension of the online visa facility. A summary pertaining to this matter which also sought endorsement by cabinet had been dispatched to the Interior Ministry.
Before the approval, the e-visa service was limited to 175 countries and with the approval of 16 more countries in the system, the list extends to 192 countries. The residents of these countries are eligible to apply for an online visa in many different categories such as tourist visa, business visa and student visa.
The e-visa facility was approved last year in January in order to promote tourism in Pakistan. At the start, the online visa service was limited to 175 countries and visa on arrival to the residents of 50 countries as well as American citizens and Britishers of Indian-Origin having American and UK passports.
With the development in tourism, the tour operators who are working internationally are also allowed to bring tourist groups into Pakistan. Through the system, the government also made it convenient to obtain a work visa for business purposes for the residents of 96 countries.
Back in March, while addressing the launching ceremony of the online visa service Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan had labeled the new visa policy as ‘a step towards Naya Pakistan’.
“This is the first step to open up the country, the Naya (new) Pakistan. Pakistan always had a mindset ‘make it as difficult as you can to grant anyone visas”, he had stated.
Imran Khan guaranteed to make Pakistan a tourist destination for foreigners and always in pursuit to establish a new tourist destination in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan.
