—— Spokesperson says Pakistani-Americans most welcome to visit motherland
—— Adds “embassy continues to provide every possible consular assistance”
WASHINGTON: The Pakistan Embassy in the United States (US) has dispelled the reports claiming that Pakistani Americans are being denied visas to visit their homeland, saying “there is no truth to the rumours”.
“This is a misinformation and disinformation”, the spokesperson for the embassy clarified. The embassy’s clarification came following the US State Department’s press briefing wherein a question was raised regarding visas of Pakistani-Americans being rejected for travelling to their homeland.
“I’m not aware,” said US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel. “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 embassy said that Pakistani-Americans, and other overseas Pakistanis, are most welcome to visit their motherland.
The official added that the embassy was providing every possible consular assistance, including visas, to overseas Pakistanis. “We encourage Pakistani-Americans to visit Pakistan either on their (National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis) NICOP or get visas, if they so desire, from the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington DC or from our four Consulates General in New York, Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles. Besides, visa requests are also processed online 24/7. Therefore, there should be no cause for concern,” the embassy added. –Agencies
