ISLAMABAD: A gateway to Western Europe, Greece has pledged to issue a 5-year visa under a new immigration policy for Pakistani travelers allowing them nine months stay in a year.
The Greek federal minister for migration and asylum, Notis Mitarachi on Monday called on Advisor to the premier of Pakistan on overseas affairs Ayyub Afridi at his office and discussed ways to promote legal migration channels for Pakistani travelers.
Greece is determined to introduce a new settlement policy for the ongoing year 2022 for legal channels of immigration from Pakistan.
He said that Greece has put strict border control and decreased illegal immigration in the past two years.
The goal of the new policy will be to provide visas for 5 years; each year the emigrant can stay in Greece for 9 months and spend the rest back home.
The three major objectives of the policy included: the issuance of new visas through legal channels, the legalization of illegal immigrants, and eradication of smuggling and illegal migration.
He also assured that legal migration will increase revenues for Pakistan and will promote Pakistan International Airlines’ direct flights to Greece.
The Greek minister stated that his country has more than 60,000 registered and unregistered Pakistanis and both countries have a long history of emigration.
Greece has had immigrants from within Europe too, like Ukraine, Albania, and Turkey.
Unfortunately, Greece and Pakistan didn’t have strong communication regarding migration in the past and, therefore, Pakistanis in Greece have been suffering.
The Advisor to the prime minister, Ayyub Afridi told the guest minister that Pakistan is making a database to provide countries with specialized human resource according to their demand.
The Advisor to PM said that smuggling and human trafficking also promote terror financing and money laundering, which Pakistan is striving to eradicate. He also conveyed to the Greek Minister the tourist potential in Pakistan and said that the country is ready to host Greek tourists.
The Greek minister said that it will be a good initiative for Pakistan to become a partner in migration by providing specialized human resources through legal channels.
He said that a successful migration policy is to ensure that these emigrants will one day come back to the country and bring back investment.
A Declaration of Intent was also signed between them to continue efforts for a firm migration policy to promote legal border crossing for Pakistani travelers.
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