Pakistan to create special CPEC visa category

Aftab Ahmed

Islamabad: Pakistan has decided to create a special category for CPEC work and business visas to facilitate the Chinese nationals working on projects in Pakistan.

Pakistan will create a separate sub-category of CPEC Visa (Work/Business) under the main work/Business Visa categories in POVS for those Chinese nationals working on CPEC projects in Pakistan.

These are visa Facilitation Measures for CPEC Projects and Related Businesses in Pakistan.

Both the ministry of foreign affairs (MOFA) and the CPEC Authority have felt the need to introduce further facilitative measures for CPEC related work-visa applicants. In this regard, they held a high-level meeting on May 23, 2021, wherein they prepared some proposals.

Under the new regime, Pakistan’s mission in China will approve work entry visas for CPEC/Chinese applicants for 2 years within 48 hours. Pakistan will grant the security clearance within 30 days from the date of arrival of the person in Pakistan.

If agencies of Pakistan do no grant security clearance within 30 days, the same shall be deemed to have been granted.

Pakistan will provide exclusive immigration counters to CPEC Business Visa holders for special handling such as provided on ‘Green Channels’.

Furthermore, the Mission of Pakistan in China shall share the list and tracking IDs of all CPEC work visa applications with the CPEC Authority, which in turn shall share the same with the Ministry of Interior to authenticate the CPEC applications for quick processing.

Pakistan mission in China and the Ministry of Interior shall establish a separate visa desk to process all CPEC applications expeditiously.

For CPEC work visa extension beyond 2 years, Chinese nationals will submit applications on POVS to the Ministry of Interior and it will decide based on security clearance within 30 days of the visa extension application.

Meanwhile, if clearance is not provided within 30 days, the same shall be deemed to have been granted. For entry and extension applications for CPEC projects and related businesses, the required documents shall remain unchanged.

Pakistan is already maintaining a Business Visa list (BVL) of 96 countries including China.

Moreover, Pakistan missions in China are, therefore, have powers to give a 5-year multiple entry visa in 24 hours on production of required documents. Further, Pakistan will grant a 30 days business visa on arrival to businessmen from these BVL counties on the production of any one of the required documents.