UAE halts visas to citizens of 13 Muslim majority countries

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has stopped issuing new visas to citizens of 13 Muslim-majority countries, according to Al-Jazeera.

The countries are Iran, Turkey, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Algeria, Keneya, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia and Tunisia.

The suspension came into effect on November 18. Employment and tourist visas for citizens of these countries will remain suspended until further notice.

The UAE’s Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship could not make comment immediate in this regard.

According to sources, due to security concerns, visas have been halted to citizens of several countries including Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Last week, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said the UAE had stopped issuing visas to citizens of several countries including them. They were trying to find out why it was shut down.

Mentionable, the UAE signed a peace treaty with the Jewish state of Israel last September. The incident has drawn strong criticism from several Muslim countries.