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KATHMANDU: Two weeks ago, Keshav Puri from Dhading arrived at Tribhuvan International Airport to travel to the UAE on a visit visa. However, officers at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) Immigration Office turned him away, stating that his documents were not in order.
Puri told Himal Press that he had paid Rs 350,000 to a recruitment agent named Navaraj Pariyar to travel to the UAE on a visit visa. “The agent had promised to send me to Germany for employment via the UAE. Now, it appears that he made a false promise,” Puri said.
According to him, Pariyar collected money from four other youths who are are now desperately trying to locate him. “Pariyar assured us at a hotel in Guashala that all arrangements had been made. He instructed us to nod our heads in a specific way, which he claimed was a code, if police asked us about the documents. Despite following his instructions, we were turned back,” Puri said. “Now, we have learned that we were rejected because the police personnel and immigration officers were at odds over sharing of ‘commission’ that day.”
Puri said that although Pariyar had informed them he would have to pay immigration officers Rs 40,000-50,000 per person, they were only given Rs 10,000 per person on that day.
The five youths had agreed to pay an additional Rs 900,000 per person to the agent once they reached Germany.
Similarly, Shyam Katuwal from Biratnagar was also returned from the airport two weeks citing ‘lack of documents’ as the reason. Katuwal stated that his agent, Bhakta Bahadur Shrestha of Pokhara, had promised him a job in Mauritius and that he was traveling to Qatar on a visit visa to fly to Mauritius. However, they were returned. Katuwal said his nine friends, also sent by Shrestha, reached Qatar two days before he was returned form the airport.
Katuwal, who had previously gone to the UAE twice for employment on visit visas, expressed his belief that more than 80% of Nepalis would be unable to leave the country on visit visas if immigration officers diligently performed their duties. “The purpose of over 90% of Nepalis traveling on visit visas is foreign employment. Everyone is aware of this,” he added.
The TIA Immigration Office returned 73 Nepalis, including Katuwal, two weeks ago, stating that their documents were not in order. Thirty of them were women, and they were all destined for Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE, Katuwal added. The office subsequently returned another 85 Nepalis traveling on visit visas one week later.
“We rejected them upon discovering that they were heading for foreign employment through agents,” Prem Prasad Dahal, the spokesperson for the Department Of Immigration (DoI), said. When asked if immigration officers were rejecting Nepalis with visit visas for not getting ‘commission’, Dahal clarified that officers cannot prevent people from traveling if their documents are in order. “Those traveling on visit visas with the help of agents lack sufficient documents, which is why they are returned,” he added.
The DoI has turned back over 2,000 Nepalis traveling on visit visas from the airport since mid-April last year. Most of whom had visit visas for Qatar and the UAE. Last year, the DoI rejected over 9,000 individuals traveling on visit visas.
A study conducted by the home ministry revealed that the primary purpose of people traveling on visit visas is employment, with a majority heading to Gulf countries. Most of the individuals traveling to Gulf countries on visit visas are women, and many work there as domestic help.
A case has been filed against 22 individuals, including nine immigration officers, for trafficking people out of the country by misusing the provision of visit visas. They will face charges of forgery and organized crime at the Kathmandu District Court.
The District Government Attorney’s Office in Kathmandu filed the case based on an investigation conducted by the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office and District Police Range Kathmandu. Twelve of them, including eight immigration officers, are on the run. Of the nine immigration officers charged, Narbir Khadka was arrested in Kathmandu on November 12 last year with Rs 200,0000. The remaining eight officers – Tara Bahadur Kunwar, Kushal Baral, Shailendra Dhakal, Bimal Poudel, Bishnu Prasad Aryal, Bikas Dangol, Sujan Limbu, and Pitambar Rimal, are currently absconding.
