Some citizens of the country said that they face many challenges to get a visa from Pakistan and they cannot succeed in getting a visa for that country after months of waiting.
Zanjir Gul, 50, who suffers from liver disease said that the field of treatment is not available in the country and therefore he has to go abroad.
Zanjir Gul told TOLOnews: “We came several times to get the visa and we paid for it but they say that 80% is possible and it not 100% known whether they will give a visa or not.”
“Getting a visa is easy for those who have money. They pay $1,000 dollars and it’s easy for them to get the visa but not those who are really sick — and even people die but no one gives them a visa. It takes two months to get a visa,” said Mohammad Nadim, a Kabul resident.
Meanwhile, some travel agencies in Kabul criticized the slowness of the Pakistan visa distribution process. Owners of travel agencies said that visas are sold at high prices in black markets.
They want the caretaker government to stop the sale of visas in the black market as soon as possible.
“The visa challenges started when the online visa process started. The visa fell into the hands of the mafia. Each Pakistani visa is sold for around $700 and $800 dollars,” said Hussain, a travel agency owner.
“The embassy itself made the black market for visas. The registration process is online and those who want urgent visas can go to specific markets that you can also search on your own to see where they are from,” said Rahim, another owner of a travel agency.
After the fall of the republic, many countries have stopped issuing visas to Afghan citizens, and only some countries, such as Iran and Pakistan, continue this process. A process that is accompanied by many difficulties.
The residents of Kabul complained about the existing challenges with the issuance of visas to Pakistan, saying that they are unable to receive their visas despite waiting for weeks and months.
Earlier, many Afghan refugees in Pakistan also voiced concerns about detention by Pakistan police.
The Kabul residents meanwhile claimed that Pakistani visas are sold at a high prices in black markets.
“We have patients. If we try to smuggle, we will be arrested. The people are facing detention via illegal paths, so we want them to give us visas. We applied for the visas, but after four months they were denied,” said Abdul Rasheed, a resident of Kabul.
“I applied for the visa two months ago. We received an invitation from Peshawar and brought a letter from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, but they have yet to issue us a visa,” said Alozai, a resident of Kabul.
This comes as some of the travel agencies said that the lack of a Pakistan visa has affected their business.
“When someone applies for a visa, their application is denied. After that, they don’t want to try for the visa because we charge them 1,500 Afs at first, then the money is also wasted for them. So this affects our business as well,” said Nooryar, head of a travel agency.
“It used to take from five to ten days for the visas for patients to be issued but it now takes between 25 to 30 days,” said Fawad Farahmand, head of a travel agency.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said that it has been in contact with the Pakistan embassy to solve the challenges in issuance of visas.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) always tries to bring facilities for the Afghans who want to travel to Pakistan or other countries, so that the Afghans can safely travel to other countries,” said Hafiz Zia Ahmad Takal, deputy spokesman for MoFA.
After the collapse of the republican government, many countries have stopped issuing visas to Afghanistan and only some of the countries including Iran and Pakistan continue to distribute visas to the Afghans.—Tolonews
