The UAE and Pakistan have activated a visa waiver for diplomatic and official passport holders, said Ishaq Dar, deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Pakistan.
In a statement on social media platform X, Dar said he met Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs earlier this week, where he was informed that the visa waiver has come into effect from July 25, 2025.
The two countries signed a visa exemption agreement for diplomatic and official passports in the last week of July during the 12th session of the Pakistan-UAE Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) in Abu Dhabi.
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“In my meeting at Abu Dhabi on June 24, 2025, with my brother Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of UAE, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, we agreed mutual visa waivers on diplomatic and official passports between our two brotherly countries and we both signed a Memorandum of Understanding to make this arrangement effective and operative after 30 days of the signing of the said MoU.
“I am pleased to confirm that I have been informed by the UAE authorities that the visa waiver for diplomatic and official Pakistani passports entering the UAE has been activated, effective July 25, 2025, at all UAE airports,” Dar said.
On the reciprocal basis, he added that similar arrangements have also been activated for UAE nationals at all Pakistani airports.
The UAE and Pakistan have close diplomatic, cultural and trade ties. There are over 1.7 million Pakistanis living and working in the UAE. In addition, hundreds of thousands of tourists from Pakistan visit the Gulf country every year.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has visited the UAE numerous times ever since he took office.
Importantly, this waiver is only for diplomatic and official passport holders and it is not applicable for ordinary passports.
