The reports of the Pakistan Embassy in Washington refusing to issue visas to Pakistani-Americans have proved to be false, as the mission has rejected them as “misinformation and disinformation”.
The response comes in reaction to a question asked during a press briefing at the US State Department that visas of Pakistani-Americans were being rejected for travelling to Pakistan.
“I’m not aware,” US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel had said in response to the question. “This obviously would be – if there were to any – be any issues that arise in this area, certainly would be something for Pakistani consular officials to speak to and not anything as it relates to the State Department, so we’ll just leave it at that.”
Later, a spokesperson for the Pakistani Embassy in Washington claimed that the Pakistani-Americans are being seamlessly issued visas. Pakistani citizens in America can travel to Pakistan through their NICOP.
The spokesperson added that Pakistani-Americans can also travel to their homeland with valid visas.
He labelled the reports of rejection of visas to Pakistani-Americans for travelling to Pakistan as rumours, and “misinformation and disinformation”.
“Pakistani-Americans and other overseas Pakistanis, are most welcome to visit their motherland Pakistan. The Embassy continues to provide every possible consular assistance, including visas, to them,” a statement by the embassy read.
The statement says the embassy encourages Pakistani-Americans to visit Pakistan through their NICOP or get visas from the embassy in Washington or consulates in New York, Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles.
