ANKIT ADHIKARI

In a bid to curb the illegal stay of foreign nationals in the country, the Department of Immigration (DoI) has started deporting the foreigners found to be misusing their tourist visas and at times overstaying. According to the DoI, 68 foreign nationals have already been deported from the country since January this year. A campaign has been launched to caution foreigners against staying and working illegally in Nepal, said DoI officials.

According to the existing legal provision, a tourist visa can be granted for a period of a maximum of 150 days in a visa year (January to December). If a foreigner wants to get permission to start a profession in Nepal, s/he has to apply for a business visa, which demands stricter criteria compared to that of a tourist visa. A business visa is granted to a maximum of five years.  

Before the campaign, the DoI had been investigating the visas and stay of foreign nationals only when they would be found guilty, or if someone lodged complaints. The deportation of Dr. Chang Cai Yun, a Chinese passport holder, on August 15, is a recent case in point.

According to investigators at the National Investigation Department (NID) under the DoI, Dr. Yun was found to have entered Nepal in 2007 on a tourist visa. Ignoring the mandate of a tourist visa, she took up a job at the Chinese Sen Lin Hospital (P) Ltd in Thamel, Kathmandu.

DoI Director Shambhu Ghimire said investigations revealed that she had been working as a professional in Kathmandu on a date-expired tourist visa. A DoI team, then, arrested her on August 13 and charged her with a fine worth Rs 15,000. She was then deported to China via the land route of the Kodari border in Sindhupalchowk on August 15, according to Kodari immigration chief Jagannath Sharma. A British national Ian Belgian, who had been working as a casino manager at Hotel Shangri-La for the past three months, was also deported to his own country two weeks ago. He was found to have come to Nepal on a tourist visa three months ago from Malaysia, where he had been working earlier.

Similarly, three Liberian nationals, Reganick Dennish, Frankly Tally and Augustine Degoil, who had been living in Kathmandu with expired tourist visas, are also under the custody of the DoI’s Immigration Centre. The trio had also been jailed four months ago on fraud charges. “We are in the process of deporting them as soon as possible,” Ghimire said. Upon receiving complaints, a team comprising officials from the DoI, NID and the Tourist Police conduct an investigation on the overall activities of foreign nationals. If found guilty, the individual will have to face deportation.

DoI chief Sharad Chandra Paudel said the recent action is a positive start towards curbing foreigners’ illegal stay in Nepal. “However, this is just a beginning and we have a long way to go,” he said. According to him, no one exactly knows how many foreign nationals are illegally residing here. “The number could be huge than the estimation, as we don’t have any documented figure to ensure every tourist entering Nepal leaves the country on a given time,” he said.

Published on: 25 August 2013 | The Kathmandu Post