The Home Ministry has recent­ly endorsed the Foreign Cit­izens Monitoring Guidelines to strictly monitor the entry, stay and exit of foreigners coming to Nepal for different purposes. With the endorsement of the guidelines, monitoring foreign nationals in Nepal and penalizing and deport­ing those involved in illegal activities has become easier for the ministry. With the Director General of the Department of Immigration as its head, the guidelines committee can monitor foreign nationals and immediately apprehend and penal­ize those involved in “suspicious activities”. The committee, creat­ed at the central level under the chairmanship of the Home Minis­ter, can independently issue search and arrest warrants as well as take foreigners into custody for investi­gation. The committee consists of members from the National Plan­ning Commission, Secretaries of Home, Finance, Tourism, Industry, Labor and Foreign Affairs minis­tries, chiefs of all three security agencies as well as the chief of the Peace and Security division of the Home Ministry.

 

Immigration officers now can raid any place if they suspect illegal activities, without prior notice. The exact data on foreigners in Nepal is not available but the Immigra­tion Department suspects a large number of foreigners are living in Nepal without proper documents. Previously, foreigners could not be effectively monitored in the absence of proper mechanisms. Director General of the Department of Immi­gration Dipak Kafle informs that the guidelines will “ensure that the foreigners staying here are aware of our rules and regulations.”

 

The Home Ministry endorsed the guidelines following reports that many foreigners in Nepal are not abiding by their visa rules, over­staying their visa or are involved in religious conversions—which the government banned this year. The new guidelines, according to the ministry, are aimed at maintaining peace, security, border protection, and rule of law. The Guidelines com­mittee has the right to raid private residences as well as organizations/institutions linked to ‘suspicious foreigners’. Any person obstructing the investigation will also be penal­ized. The information of arrested foreigners will be handed over to the respective countries and depor­tations made by following due diplo­matic process.

 

The implications of the guide­lines on the expats who have made Nepal their second home for years is unclear. Nepal has strict rules on citizenships for foreign nation­als, making it difficult for them to permanently stay here as citizens. Nevertheless, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of expats living in Nepal under different visas and permits. They appear anxious.

 

Refusing to be named, a Euro­pean national living in Nepal for more than 20 years told APEX, “We just read the news but we have no idea what’s going on. Are they going to come to our homes to check our documents anytime they want? Will it get unsafe for the foreigners living here on legitimate visas?” she asks. “We’re still waiting to hear from our embassies on this matter.”

 

“I am a little concerned,” says another expat who works for a Kath­mandu-based INGO. “But I am also in a wait-and-see mode. I want to see if the new foreigner guidelines are pure political rhetoric or if there is some substance to it.”

 

Dipak Kafle, DG of the Department of Immigration, however, assures that the guidelines have been intro­duced only to check illegal activities of undocumented foreigners and those who are working or living here with proper visas and those who are abiding by the law have no cause for concern. “Nor is this entirely new. The DG’s office has always had the responsibil­ity of monitoring foreigners,” says Kafle. “But with the number of foreigners coming into Nepal cross­ing a million a year, it had become impossible for us to do all the monitoring alone”. Thus the guidelines to “decentralize our authority and create a more effective network”.

 

The said network, which involves officials from the stakeholder min­istries also comprise of all 77 Chief District Officers. With decentralized responsibility and authority, the Department of Immigration aims to secure Nepal from foreign ele­ments working against the country’s peace, security and national integ­rity. Kafle also informs that some points in the said guidelines are still under review.

 

The Foreign Citizens Monitoring Guidelines come as another “bold” decision of the current coalition gov­ernment. But like most of its recent decisions, the real purpose behind it remains murky. Perhaps the gov­ernment is really serious about safeguarding the country’s interest. Or perhaps it wants to hound its western critics in the name of strict monitoring. Only time will tell.