Former Pakistan’s envoy to the United States, Hussain Haqqani, has said that Pakistan has not been singled out in the recent US restrictions on immigrant visas, stressing that the move is administrative in nature rather than politically motivated.
“Pakistan is not the only country on that list,” said Haqqani on Thursday, during an interview on the Aaj News programme News Insight with Amir Zia.
“Many others are included as well — some of them are US allies, and some are even personally close to Trump. The basis for this is that people from these countries, after obtaining green cards or immigration status, try to access America’s social security system.”
The remarks come days after the US State Department, in a statement, said it will pause immigrant visa processing from 75 countries, including Pakistan, whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates. “The freeze will remain active until the US can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people,” it said.
“We are working to ensure the generosity of the American people will no longer be abused.”
Haqqani said that the US administration is trying to put a system in place to prevent this.
“It is unclear how long that will take. But this has nothing to do with politics — it is not about imposing restrictions on opponents while sparing friends. We need to understand that this is an attempt to stop people from taking unfair advantage of the American system by settling there,” he said.
Although US visa restrictions are framed as administrative, analysts believe that the broader economic impact on Pakistan could be significant, affecting remittances, skilled labour mobility, trade linkages, and diaspora-led investment.
On Thursday, Foreign Office Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said Pakistan is in contact with the United States authorities regarding the immigrant visa processing issue.
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