- Written by Carolyn Davies
- Pakistan correspondent
Image source, Getty Images
Afghan refugees sit next to their luggage at the registration center upon their arrival from Pakistan
Pakistan has confirmed that it is imposing a fee of $830 on unregistered refugees who wish to leave the country.
Exit fees apply to people arriving without a visa.
In October, Pakistan announced that it would deport 1.7 million illegal foreigners from the country if they did not leave the country by November 1.
Most of them are Afghans, including hundreds of thousands of people who fled Afghanistan when the Taliban regained power in 2021.
Those whose visas have expired will be charged a fee depending on how long they have overstayed.
Exit fees do not apply to anyone returning to Afghanistan.
Many Afghans who arrived in Pakistan when Kabul fell to the Taliban faced delays in obtaining documents, according to groups such as Amnesty International.
Pakistan is not a party to the Refugee Convention and said it does not recognize any Afghans living on its borders as refugees.
A senior diplomat in Pakistan told the BBC that the fees were particularly worrying when applied to people being transferred on humanitarian grounds.
“In many countries, if you overstay your visa, you have to pay or you will be expelled,” they said.
“The problem is that we charge fees to people we take on humanitarian visas. Not necessarily people we take because they work for us, but who UNHCR deems have humanitarian needs. This sets a very bad precedent.”
The diplomat said there were some early indications that the government might review the policy, which they said was encouraging.
The Pakistani authorities did not discuss the possibility of conducting a review with the BBC.
The Commission told the BBC that it was trying to “solve the problem.”
“We call on the authorities to exempt refugees from these requirements.
“The government and people of Pakistan have a commendable, decades-long history of providing asylum and protection to Afghan refugees, and this must continue.”
A Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman said: “Pakistani laws, like immigration laws in other countries including the UK, impose fines and penalties on individuals who overstay their visas or breach immigration laws.
“Any fines that Pakistan has imposed or will impose are in accordance with our laws,” he added.
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