US Visas for Pakistanis Drop Sharply as Visas for Indians Rise

Non-immigrant visas granted to Pakistani nationals have declined by 40 percent under the new Trump administration as compared to last year's monthly average.

According to the data recently released by the US State Department, Pakistanis were issued 3,925 non-immigrant American visas in April and 3,973 visas in March 2017, 40 percent less than last year's monthly average of 6,553.

Meanwhile, Indians this year received 87,049 visas and 97,925 visas in April and March respectively, a 28 percent rise in comparison to the monthly average of the previous year derived from an annual total of 864,987 visas.

"Visa demand is cyclical, not uniform throughout the year and affected by various factors at the local and international level." State Department spokesperson told the News International.

"Visa issuance numbers tend to increase during peak travel seasons, such as during the summer and the winter holidays, though there may be different trends at the country, nationality, or visa-category level"

The drop in issued nonimmigrant visas was even more significant (55 percent) with the countries included in US President Donald Trump's travel ban list, such as Iran, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen, despite the fact that the ban itself has been held up in court.

Earlier this year, the US president signed an executive order temporarily barring people from a number of Muslim-majority countries from entering the US. US federal courts blocked the order after mass accusations that the ban discriminated against Muslims.