ISLAMABAD : The minister for Migration and Asylum of Greece Mr. Notis Mitarachi called on advisor to the PM on Overseas Pakistanis Mr. Ayub Afirdi at his office and discussed ways to promote legal immigration channels for Pakistanis.
The Minister said that Greece wishes to make a new policy in 2022 for legal immigration of Pakistanis. 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; in each year the emigrant can stay in Greece for 9 months and spend the rest back home. The three big objectives of the policy are: (1) Issuance of new visas through legal channels. (2) Legalization of illegal immigrants (3) Eradication of Smuggling and illegal migration. He also assured that legal migration will increase revenues for Pakistan and will promote Pakistan International Airline for direct flights to Greece.
The Minister stated that Greece has more than 60,000 registered and unregistered Pakistanis and both the countries have a long history of immigration and therefore they understand the mutual feeling. Greece has had immigrants from within Europe too, like Ukraine, Albania, and Turkey. Unfortunately, Greece and Pakistan didn’t have strong communication regarding immigration in the past and, therefore, Pakistanis in Greece have been suffering due to this.
The Advisor to PM on Overseas Pakistanis told the visiting minister that Pakistan is making a database to provide countries with specialized human resource according to their demand. Furthermore, PM Imran Khan is launching a scheme of soft loans for Pakistani immigrants. The advisor said that smuggling and human trafficking also promotes terror financing and money laundering, which Pakistan is currently struggling to eradicate. He also conveyed the Greek Minister of the tourist potential in Pakistan and said that the country is ready to host Greek tourists.
The Minister for Migration and Asylum said that it will be a good initiative for Pakistan to become a partner in migration by providing specialized human resource through legal channels. He said that a successful migration policy was to ensure that these emigrants will one day come back to the country and bring back investment.
A declaration of Intent was signed between the two representatives to continue efforts for a firm migration policy to promote legal Pakistani immigration.