Kathmandu. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has banned the issuance of tourist visa for Nepali nationals.
According to travel agencies, a limited number of issuances have been issued since last year on the basis of travel history and source of income, but in the last few days, they have started rejecting it completely.
Although the visit visa has been rejected, the visa is being made available to Nepali citizens who have traveled abroad from time to time and go for business purposes.
According to a travel agent, the travel agency has been shifting from Sharjah airport to Dubai since last year after it was difficult to get a visit visa for Dubai. Now, in the case of Nepali citizens, visit visa is being rejected even for Sharjah.
However, neither the Immigration Department of the United Arab Emirates nor the Embassy in Nepal has given any official information on this matter.
The victims had also demanded action against the then Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak after the victims exposed that they were forced to pay bribe of up to Rs 50,000 each to an employee of the Department of Immigration at Tribhuvan International Airport to travel to Dubai on visit visa. However, the matter was later resolved.
