Miscellaneous
Govt to gather details of foreigners living in Nepal
The Ministry of Home Affairs has sought details from the Department of Immigration of all the foreigners living in Nepal, except Indian nationals, under various visa categories.The Ministry of Home Affairs has sought details from the Department of Immigration of all the foreigners living in Nepal, except Indian nationals, under various visa categories.
The move follows deportation of a Canadian national over tweets that government authorities considered “critical of government” and “though could incite conflict” and arrest and release of a Briton for his alleged involvement in protests by Madhesis and Janajatis in the Capital.
Robert Penner, a software engineer from Canada, who was living and working in Nepal for nearly four years, was detained by on May 3 and subsequently ordered to leave the country in two days, saying “he had violated the terms of his visa”.
Days after Penner was asked to leave, police on May 17 detained a 45-year-old British tourist after he was spotted amid protests sporting a bandana. He was freed the following day.
“Initially, we will collect information from the Department of Immigration about foreigners in Kathmandu Valley, who are living under various visa categories-visit, tourist, business and working,” said Yadav Koirala, spokesperson for the Ministry of Home Affairs.
“There has been an increasing trend among foreigners of obtaining visa under a certain category and doing exactly the opposite of the nature of their visa,” he added. “The move is aimed at discouraging such trend.”
According to officials, foreigners who visit Nepal under tourist visa, which is of three months, have been found to have changed it into working or visit visa by paying Rs 500, which lets them prolong their stay in the country.
“There is a need to update records of foreigners living here, and they need to inform [government] about what they are doing,” said Koirala. “Some of the recent incidents and other cases in which foreigners were found involved in criminal activities prompted the government make such move,” he added.
“We will make public the data after we compile all the information. Due to lack of dedicated computerised system or software, we cannot say how long it will take to gather all the information,” Koirala informed.
The government is also planning to monitor and check the status of foreigners who are working in various quake-hit districts.