It's easy to enter UK from UAE than Pakistan

It is easy for Pakistani nationals to enter United Kingdom from the UAE than their homeland due to the discrimination by the UK Border Agency (UKBA).

Independent chief inspector John Vine, who was appointed to scruitinise UKBA, said it was harder to enter the UK from Pakistan than from Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain.

The Border Agency staff applied higher evidential requirements for entry and made worryingly inconsistent visa decisions, Vine told BBC. But the UK government claims that the move intended to check visa frauds. Pakistan is the fourth largest source of applications to enter the UK, according to BBC.

Vine said there was a worrying lack of confidence in the work of the visa section - particularly in Pakistan visa operations.

The UK Border Agency was not only failing to be open and transparent about their approach towards customers, but also may be discriminating unlawfully... against Pakistanis," Vine added.

He said senior managers were dismissive of appeal decisions and staff applied "higher evidential requirements for entry to the UK to customers from Pakistan, and this was not made clear to them".

Vine said: "I believe this means that the UK Border Agency was not only failing to be open and transparent about their approach towards customers, but also may be discriminating unlawfully in favour of Gulf Co-operation Council customers and against Pakistanis."

Immigration Minister Damian Green told BBC that checks are there not to target genuine applicants but those who try to obtain a visa through fraudulent means.