Pak no longer eligible for US diversity visa

Pakistanis are no longer eligible for the diversity visa, which is a special immigration application that allowed families from countries with low rates of immigration into the US to qualify for the move.

A lot of Pakistani families used this facility to immigrate to the US, leading to an immigrant population of between 700,000 and one million Pakistanis.

According to the US law, diversity laws are only allowed to counties that have low rates of immigrants and because of these high immigration levels, Pakistanis are no longer eligible for diversity visas, said US consulate in Karachi’s spokesperson Brian Asmus, during a media tour of the Karachi consulate’s visa section.

Pakistan had 104,000 immigrants in the 10 years between 2005 and 2014, he said, explaining why Pakistanis were no longer eligible.

US consulate’s non-immigrant visa chief Mary Pellegrini explained that it takes around one year for spouse and children, two years for parents and, for siblings, the time can vary up to a decade.

Nevertheless, the Pakista-nis who have managed to immigrate were doing pretty well. According to a recent survey, an average Pakistani in the US earns $63,000 every year while an average US citizen earned only $51,000 a year, said Mr Asmus.

He dismissed the misconception that fewer Pakistanis were able to get visa for the US.

The percentage of applications is increasing every year and the number of Pakistani citizens getting visas has also increased by 20 per cent between 2014 and 2015, and another 20 per cent between 2015 and 2016, he said.

The US Consulate in Karachi only deals in non-immigrant visas while immigrants visas are dealt at the embassy in Islamabad.

Last year, the consulate issued a total of 72,000 visas across the country. So far in 2016, the US consulate in Karachi has issued a total of 14,400 visas.

US consul-general Brian Heath said that there was no priority given to anyone, whether he/she is a politician or an actor.