Immigration to Pakistan is the legal entry and settlement of foreign nationalsinPakistan. Immigration policy is overseen by the Interior Minister of Pakistan through the Directorate General Passports. Most immigrants are not eligible for citizenship or permanent residency, unless they are married to a Pakistani citizen or a Commonwealth citizen who has invested a minimum of PKR 5 million in the local economy.[1]
Based on the United Nations report World Population Policies 2005, the total immigrant population in Pakistan was estimated to be 3,254,000, representing 2.1% of the national population, and ranked 13th in the world.[2][3] According to the United Nations report International Migration Profiles 2002, the population of immigrants in Pakistan was little over 1 million in 1990 and around 1.4 million in 2000.[4]
As of 2009, an estimated 2.1% of the population of Pakistan had foreign origins. However, the number of immigrants in Pakistan recently grew sharply. Immigrants from South Asia make up a growing proportion of immigrants in Pakistan. The largest group of immigrants in Pakistan is Bangladeshi, followed by Afghan, Tajik, Uzbek, Turkmen, Indian, Sri Lankan, Burmese[5][6] and Briton.[7] Other expatriate communities in Pakistan are Chechens, Filipinos, Turks, Persian, Chinese,[8] Americans,[9] previously Bosnian refugees,[10] and many others. Migrants from different countries of Arab World, especially Egypt, Iraq, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Tunisia, and Yemen, are in the thousands. Nearly all illegal migrants in Pakistan are Muslim refugees and they are accepted by the local population. There is no political support or legislation to deport these refugees from Pakistan.
Sheikh Muhammad Feroze, the chairman of the Pakistani Bengali Action Committee, claimed that there were 200 settlements of Bengali-speaking people in Pakistan, of which 132 are in Karachi. They are found in various areas of Pakistan such as Thatta, Badin, Hyderabad, Tando Adam and Lahore.[11]
Experts say that the migration of both Bengalis and Burmese (Rohingya) to Pakistan started in the 1980s and continued until 1998. Large scale Rohingya migration to Karachi made Karachi one of the largest population centres of Rohingyas in the world after Myanmar.[12] The Burmese community of Karachi is spread out over 60 slums in Karachi such as the Burmi Colony in Korangi, Arakanabad, Machchar colony, Bilal colony, Ziaul Haq Colony and Godhra Camp.[13]
Thousands of Uyghur Muslims have also migrated to the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan, some of them fleeing political problems in Xinjiang, China.[14]
As of December 2020, around 1,435,445 registered Afghan refugees reside and work in Pakistan.[15][16][17][18] Most of them reside in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, Pakistan.[16] They are expected to leave Pakistan and return to Afghanistan in the coming years.
In addition, about 500 Somalis, 60–80 Iraqis and 20–30 Iranians were reported to be temporarily residing in cities such as Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Karachi. Nearly all of these are asylum seekers waiting to be resettled in countries of the Americas, Europe or Oceania.
The Express Tribune reported in January 2012 that there were 5 million illegal aliens in Pakistan. Around 2 million were Bangladeshis, 2.5 million were citizens of Afghanistan and the other 0.5 million were from various other places such as Africa, Iran, Iraq and Myanmar.[19]
Since early 2002, Pakistan's government took steps to determine the number of illegal aliens in its country. The National Alien Registration Authority (NARA) started registering illegal immigrants in January 2006. According to NARA, there were an estimated 1.8 million illegal aliens in Pakistan's commercial capital Karachi in 2007.[20] Others believe that there may be about 3.35 million illegal aliens in Pakistan.[21] As of January 2010, the number of illegal aliens in Karachi was estimated to be between 1.6 and 2 million.[22][23][24]
It was reported a decade ago that thousands of citizens from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Burma, Sri Lanka, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, Jordan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Azerbaijan[25][26][27] were residing in Karachi without legal documentation.[28] This included thousands of Muslim students from Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia studying in the Pakistani madrasahs,[29] while thousands of women from Bangladesh and Burma were working as maids and prostitutes there; most of them are illegal aliens.[30]
According to some sources, thousands of radicals of Arab origin who entered the country illegally to fight in Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion in 1979, and later against the US-led invasion in October 2001, still remain in the country.
Although the presence of illegal aliens in Pakistan is against the law, the Government of Pakistan has not made a serious effort to deport them until January 2010 when Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik asked illegal aliens to either leave or register themselves with the department concerned. This action was taken following the bomb attack and targeted killings of political activists in the city, against foreign militants operating in Pakistan.[31]
According to NARA, in 2009 there were foreign nationals from over 76 countries, mostly from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Tajikistan, India and Burma illegally living and working in the country as labourers involved in construction businesses and others which require unskilled manpower,[32] whilst most of the illegal aliens are those who intend to use Pakistan as a transit country to immigrate to Western countries.[25]
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
Shaikh Muhammad Feroze, the chairman of the committee, said during a press conference on Friday that political parties and the government should acknowledge the sacrifices of their ancestors. 'We live in Sindh and feel proud to be called Sindhis rather than Bengalis. We appeal to Sindhi nationalists and Sindhis to help us in our struggle,' he added. He said that Bengali-speaking people were not given educational rights as they did not possess national identity cards. 'Our children can't get an education after matriculation because colleges ask for the identity cards but the National Database Registration Authority has never accepted us as Pakistani citizens.' Shaikh said that over three million Bengalis and Biharis were grateful to the government for accepting them as Pakistani citizens. 'We postponed a hunger strike planned for March 25 after the government made decisions,' he added. 'We can go on a hunger strike, if our rights are not given.' He claimed that there were 200 settlements of Bengali-speaking people across the country, including 132 in Karachi. They populate different parts of Pakistan, including Thatta, Badin, Hyderabad, Tando Adam and Lahore.
Their large-scale migration had made Karachi one of the largest Rohingya population centres outside Myanmar but afterwards the situation started turning against them.
Insa is one of a few thousand Uighur Muslims who live in Gilgit. The community is a mix of generations. Some left Xinjiang and the thriving trading town of Kashgar in 1949, while others are later arrivals. Map showing Kashgar and Gilgit. All say they were forced to leave as they were the victims of cultural and religious oppression in China.
ISLAMABAD: Around five million illegal immigrants have been residing in different cities of Pakistan for more than three decades. The illegal immigrants, around two million Bangladeshis, 2.5 million Afghanis and 0.5 million other nationals including Africans, Iranians, Iraqis and Myanmars, are currently living in Quetta, Peshawar, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi and other cities, an official said on Monday.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
