Pakistanis not eligible for US diversity visa

Pakistanis are no longer eligible for diversity visas to the United States as they now form the seventh largest immigrant population there.

The diversity visa is a special immigration visa that allows citizens from countries with low rates of immigration into the US to qualify for the move.

US consulate in Karachi spokesperson Brian Asmus said Pakistan had 104,000 immigrants in the 10 years between 2005 and 2014, explaining why they are no longer eligible for the diversity visa.

The state department has only stopped diversity visas and there are a lot of other options, such as petitions, student, visit and exchange programme visas, which come under the non-immigrant category.

Asmus also dismissed the conception that fewer Pakistanis are 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 percent between 2014 and 2015, and another 20 percent between 2015 and 2016, he said.