Yemen’s 31-year-old Gadam Yahuya Ali Mohammed’s Nepali visa had expired on January 24. When he went to get his visa renewed, six months after its expiry, he was arrested by the Immigration Office Pokhara and sent back to his home country. Similarly, Russia’s Yevg­eny Fedorov, Japan’s Isu Hashimoto and Sweden’s Martinson Torebhairat were also found to have overstayed their visa. From Pokhara, they were first sent to Kath­mandu from where they were deported. 

 

In the fiscal 2017-18, Pokha­ra’s Immigration Office has sent nine such foreigners to Kathmandu. Although many foreigners are stay­ing illegally in Nepal, sel­dom are they apprehended and punished.

 

According to tourism entre­preneurs in Pokhara, for­eigners who overstay, beg or sell trinkets on footpaths are mostly poor. Although many locals know about them, they are seldom reported.

 

“Only when they some­times fight or destroy hotel property do people bother to inform the police,” says Lal Bahadur Thapa, a police officer with the Tourist Police Unit of Pokhara. “And only then is the real status of their visa known.” He also informs that there has till date been no concerted effort to search for illegal immigrants