Over 36K Long Term Visas to Pakistani citizens, 236 to Bangladeshi nationals in 7 yrs

Over 36,000 Long Term Visas (LTVs) were issued to Pakistani citizens and 236 to Bangladeshi nationals in the last seven years, Parliament was informed on Tuesday. Replying to a written question in the Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju also said a total of 884 LTVs were issued to Myanmar nationals till December 31, 2017, and 12 Myanmar nationals were deported recently after following due process.

"As per the available information, the figure of LTVs granted by the Ministry of Home Affairs to Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals are available since 2011 and during 2011 to 2018, a total of 36,610 and 236 LTVs have been granted to Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals respectively," Rijiju said. According to the existing guidelines, LTVs are granted to specific categories of nationals of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

The policy regarding granting LTVs to Afghan nationals came into effect from July 17, 2017, and till date, no LTV was granted to any Afghan national, Rijiju said. "During these years, LTV applications have been processed both in the offline and online modes and therefore, the state-wise data is not centrally available," he added.

(With inputs from agencies.)