ISLAMABAD: Preceding Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s visit to China, the government has asked concerned departments to change the visit visa for 2,511 Chinese nationals into free of charge work visas as the Chinese Mission in Islamabad had requested.
Concerned officials on Sunday announced that PM Khan is going to Beijing on Monday to discuss the progress on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Additionally, the premier will discuss the regional situation with a focus on Indian occupied Kashmir’s (IoK) deteriorating situation.
Officials, on the condition of anonymity, told is scribe that the federal cabinet has granted an approval “in principle” as a one-time dispensation to Chinese nationals to change their visit visas into work visas in Pakistan free of charge.
The cabinet considered the summary which was submitted by the Board of Investment (BoI) that had taken up the matter with the PM’s Office and recommended to waive off $251,100 processing fee, equivalent to Rs40.2 million, in favour of the Chinese citizens.
It may be mentioned here that the processing fee for a work visa of $25 was increased to $100 during the 7th BoI board meeting held on September 1, 2016.
In addition to this, BoI may also issue work visa recommendation letters to Chinese citizens to save them from the four weeks long waiting time for mandatory security clearance.
As per the revised visa policy shared by the Ministry of Interior, the Pakistan Missions abroad are authorised to grant one-year entry work visa with multiple entries to foreign expatriates on the BoI’s recommendation, which is extendable on yearly basis.
