Jan 16 , 2016
News
POEPA bans sale, purchase of overseas work visas
ISLAMABAD: Criticising the government for “non-cooperation”, Pakistan Overseas Employment Promoters Association on (POEPA) on Friday announced a ban on the sale and purchase of overseas work visa across the country.
Addressing a press conference, POEPA Chairman Chaudhry Muhammad Afzal announced that the association would announce uniform fee visa and there would be a ban on additional expenditures. He said that free visa would be granted to those applicants who go abroad for employment. He said Philippines had implemented a policy of free visa and it would also be enforced in Pakistan. He said promoters would also only charge service fee. “The promoters who charge additional expenditure would have their memberships cancelled.”
Afzal said Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) and Immigration Bureau were not cooperating with the promoters. However, he lauded the role of Saudi Embassy, which had streamlined the visa submission mechanism. Responding to a question, the POEPA chairman said the Saudi embassy had abolished the system of individual visa drop box, and PEOPA had been authorised submission of passports for visas. He urged the government to formulate a policy to tap the potential of manpower export to Middle East countries. He said Qatar was going to open some sectors of its economy and the government should try to capture the manpower market.
The POEPA chairman said that the Saudi embassy was processing 2,000 visas per day in Islamabad and 500 to 600 were being processed in Karachi consulate. He further said that the defence minister of Saudi Arabia had committed to get 50 percent of manpower required by the kingdom from Pakistan. ‘We appeal to the prime minister to intervene for facilitation so that this huge potential could be tapped,” he said. “If there is no facilitation from Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry and Immigration Bureau, we will not be able to capture this potential,” he said, adding that PEOPA was going to set up an accountability cell to facilitate the Pakistanis going abroad for employment. “We will address the issue within two weeks,” Afzal said.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk