DoI proposes banning on-arrival visas to Syrians

KATHMANDU, Dec 2: The Department of Immigration (DoI) has proposed a ban on on-arrival visas to Syrian nationals entering Nepal. Stating that Nepal is trying to keep an eye on Syrian nationals after the Paris attack, the DoI said it wants to cut Syria from the list of countries getting on-arrival visa at Nepal's airport.

Director General of the DoI, Kedar Neupane, said that they have proposed such a new rule keeping in mind the national security. "As the world is facing the problem of terrorism, we want to take Syria out of the list of the country to which we issue on-arrival visa," said Neupane. "However, this doesn't mean that we are trying to stop Syrian nationals entering Nepal." DG Neupane added that by making Syrians go through a process to apply for visa via Nepali embassy will curb the number of unwanted people. "Unwanted people, with criminal background, can easily come to Nepal when we give them visa at the airport. We are trying to discourage the number of Syrians entering Nepal at the moment," he explained. Nepal doesn't issue on-arrival visas to the citizens of Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Cameroon, Somalia, Liberia, Ethiopia, Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan. Neupane added that Nepal being a sovereign country has the full right to decide on the immigration policy and can change its immigration policy whenever required. The DoI has forwarded the proposal of changing visa provision to Syrians to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA). Many Syrian nationals have been using Nepal as a transit point to enter the European countries due to the ongoing civil war. Most of them were caught at the immigration for using fake passports of Belgium and Lithuania, the DoI informed. The records at DoI show that 24 Syrian nationals were denied entry to Nepal in the fiscal year 2014/15 for carrying fake passports. Immigration Officer Gurav Dhungel told Republica that many Syrians first go to Turkey and then get tourist visa from there to enter Nepal. "If we look back at the recent trend, many Syrian nationals are found to be using fake passports and entering Nepal from Turkey," he said. A total number of 204 Syrian citizens have entered Nepal from January 2015 to November 2015 while 199 Syrians have departed from Nepal during the same period.

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