Pak ‘human smugglers’ brazenly posing as ‘visa agents’ in absence of deterring law

LAHORE - Human smugglers have impersonated themselves as visa consultants in Lahore as there is no law to make visa consultants accountable to any law enforcement agency in Pakistan, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) claimed.

“We have repeatedly forwarded our requests to the Ministry of Labour Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis for framing rules and regulations for the visa consultants, but the Ministry remains unmoved,” The Nation quoted a senior officer of the FIA, as saying.

“Number of complaints against student visa consultants had shot up to an alarming level in the FIA Lahore office. There is no difference between education and immigration consultancy,” he added.

The FIA sources alleged that the student visa consultants directly asked the youngsters about the country where they were interested to go and then they managed their visa at any cost.

The sources also added that for the consultancy services, the consultants are eligible to charge the students Rs 20,000 to 40,000 per head.

However, the consultants are receiving the amounts in lakhs, which shows that they are not consulting for admission but for immigration. (ANI)