KATHMANDU, April 6: The government has temporally banned those Nepali nationals without travel history from visiting Gulf countries after a series of incidents of human trafficking via the Tribhuvan International Airport came to the fore.
According to this provision in place, no Nepalis can travel to the Gulf countries if they have not visited the countries in the past.
The travel permit has been banned to the Nepali people due to some problem with the visitor visa, Director General at the Department of Immigration, Ganga Ram Gelal told Republica Online.
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Human trafficking cases increased due to lack of control over visitor visas granted to travelers visiting the Gulf countries of late, said Director General Gelal.
“We are working toward reforming the 24-year-old criteria of visit visa after the human traffickers took advantage of their loopholes,” recently appointed Gelal told Republica Online.
He further said that the government is formulating short-term and long-term strategies to reduce human trafficking cases through the reformation in the existing criteria.
However, this new rule does not apply to those who are visiting the Gulf countries on working visas.
A team comprising members from the International Relations and Labor Committee of the Legislative Parliament which recently returned from Gulf countries after conducting research on human trafficking has concluded that over 60 percent of human trafficking cases are taking place in cahoots with the staffers at the Department of Immigration and the police personnel.
