Islamabad, August 17, 2022 (PPI-OT):Pakistan and the United Kingdom signed earlier today at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in London, a bilateral agreement on return and readmission of those Pakistan nationals who have been residing in the UK without lawful authority. The agreement renews and updates, in a bilateral context an earlier agreement between Pakistan and the European Community regarding readmission of persons residing without authorization concluded in October 2009.

The bilateral agreement was necessitated by the exit of the UK from the European Union. Building on the strong people-to-people links that tie the two countries together, Pakistan and the UK also signed the letter of intent to explore and further broaden mutually beneficial avenues of licit migration. Both the agreement and the letter of intent were inked from the UK side by Home Secretary, Priti Patel and from Pakistan side by Secretary Ministry of Interior, Yousuf Naseem Khokhar.

Following the signature, the two sides launched discussions on the entire ambit of Pakistan-UK migration, visa, law enforcement and judicial cooperation including readmission, prioritizing opportunities for students, mutual legal assistance and capacity building in law enforcement.

Noting that the Pakistan Diaspora in the UK constituted an important living bridge, both sides reaffirmed the desire to continue to hold regular and institutionalized discussions on the Pakistan-UK migration relationship with a view to strengthening the partnership, addressing illicit movement and encouraging and facilitating legal channels of migration.

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