The government has scrapped the six-point criteria for visit visas. On the proposal of the Immigration Department, Home Minister Om Prakash Aryal on Thursday scrapped the six-point criteria and implemented new criteria such that a passport with a six-month validity, a visa for the destination country, a one-way air ticket, and a self-declaration that one is traveling voluntarily are sufficient for a visit visa.

The six points included provisions such as one-way air tickets, hotel bookings, documents revealing three-generation details if staying with relatives, a valid passport with a validity of 6 months, and a valid visa. There was also a provision for self-declaration for the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and Saudi Arabia.

The criteria were criticized from various quarters as 'discriminatory' and 'impracticable'.

A Home Ministry official informed that the controversial provision has been removed and now a provision has been made that a valid passport/visa, one-way ticket, and self-declaration are sufficient. The Home Ministry official informed that the travel process has been made easier by removing the requirement to carry $500, book a hotel, and otherwise require a document revealing the relationship with relatives. The official said that this will also help prevent gangs from extorting money from people on visit visas.

The then Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand had issued a 17-point controversial criteria in Falgun 2078 BS, including the following conditions: ‘You must have an annual taxable income of Rs 500,000, half of that amount must be in the bank, you must have visited the Gulf twice and once in other countries, you must have passed grade 12, you must be able to speak English, if you are sponsored by someone from abroad or invited by a relative, you must provide a document proving the relationship, and if not, you must also mention the details of the sponsor.’ Based on this, immigration officials, travel agencies, manpower, and middlemen had been exploiting travelers by taking illegal benefits.

During the tenure of the Home Minister after Khand, the 17 points were amended to bring 6 points. This also included provisions that those traveling on a visit visa must comply with the strict conditions of the government. The new criteria have been set by removing the discriminatory provisions in both these criteria and now with relaxed conditions in 4 points.

After the Ministry of Home Affairs issued the criteria with 'strict provisions' for visiting countries in Europe, Asia and Africa, there was a demand to repeal it. The facts that organized gangs were charging up to three hundred thousand rupees from people who wanted to go to Europe on a visit visa and between 30 thousand and 50 thousand rupees for other countries have been revealed through police and CIAA investigations. The last time Tribhuvan International Airport's immigration chief Tirtharaj Bhattarai was involved in smuggling under the guise of visit visas. He is under investigation by CIAA.