US may deny Pakistanis officials visa over deportee row.

KARACHI -- The US has listed Pakistan among countries sanctioned under a State Department rule governing the refusal to process visas. The listing could result in the withholding of visas to Pakistanis, beginning with senior government officials.

The notification in the US Federal Register was published on April 22 and was effective from the same date. The actual impact of the listing remains to be seen, as the State Department told the media that consular operations in Pakistan remain unchanged. Embassy staff, speaking off the record, also said the same.

In addition, even the notification says that only 318 visas have been rejected on the basis of the law in the last 23 years. Pakistan joins a list of 10 nations that have been sanctioned under Immigration and Nationality Act Section 243(d) for refusing to take back deportees and other nationals. The law requires the secretary of state to discontinue granting immigration or non-immigrant visas to a nation upon receiving notice from the Homeland Security secretary that the country has denied or is unreasonably delaying accepting a citizen, subject, national or resident of that country.

'For example, the secretary could order consular officers to discontinue granting B-1 and B-2 visas for...