Airlines will be prohibited from arbitrarily returning passengers going abroad from Tribhuvan International Airport. Except in cases where the documents prescribed by the rules and regulations are not in accordance with the law, the entire responsibility, including compensation for any losses incurred by the passenger, will remain with the concerned airline.

The decision to tighten regulations has been taken after airlines started turning back passengers without issuing boarding passes on various pretexts, informed Ram Chandra Tiwari, Director General of the Immigration Department.

‘Now, if airlines have to turn back passengers from the airport, they must give a letter to the concerned passenger and immigration explaining the reason,’ he said. ‘If a passenger has the necessary documents but is not given a boarding pass and is turned back from the airport, the entire responsibility will lie with the concerned airline. We are issuing a circular to the concerned parties in this regard.’

More than 100 passengers who were going to countries including Dubai, Qatar, Malaysia and others were ‘offloaded’ from the airport by various airlines last Thursday. Tiwari, Director General of the department, informed that an investigation is underway into the issue of airlines turning back so many passengers without giving a clear reason.

On the proposal of the Immigration Department, the ‘Visit Visa Standards-2080’ was amended by a decision of the Home Minister on 13 Kartik, according to which the harsh provisions imposed in the past were removed. In addition, the department had issued an internal circular stating that action would be taken against the staff who returned the passengers on a visit visa who were turned away from the immigration counter on various pretexts despite having the prescribed documents. 

‘The department has amended some of the provisions introduced in the past regarding visit visas and now has made passenger-friendly arrangements, but the parties who were dissatisfied with this have not liked the reform initiatives,’ said an official from the Ministry of Home Affairs. ‘In recent days, there is a suspicion that the reason why airlines have stopped passengers without issuing boarding passes is not the same as those who set them up in the past.’

The Immigration Department had introduced new criteria such that a Nepali passport with a validity of 6 months, a visa for the destination country, an air ticket for departure from the destination country, documents submitted for going abroad, and a ‘self-declaration’ about the risks of the trip are sufficient for foreign travel.

The old standard had strict provisions including passport, visa, foreign currency equivalent to 500 US dollars, two-way air tickets, hotel booking, a document revealing the three-generation relationship details if staying with relatives, and self-declaration for those traveling to the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia. There was a debate about removing the controversial provision after the trend of paying money through gangs and reaching abroad through the same gang network was not stopped. 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.

After the new provisions regarding visit visas, complaints from those going abroad have also decreased and while gang activities are gradually moving towards control, some people are trying to trouble passengers again under various pretexts, said Tiwari, Director General of the department. After the passengers were 'offloaded', Tiwari had called representatives of airlines operating international flights and the 'country head' at the airport for discussion.

‘If the immigration staff turns away passengers from the desk without any reason despite having the prescribed documents, the staff who turn them away will also be taken into action. Now, airlines that turn away passengers without giving them boarding passes without any reason will also be brought under the ambit of action. For that, we have discussed with the airline representatives and also asked them for the reason for the people who were turned away on Thursday,’ he said.

Tiwari had called representatives of eight airlines, including Qatar, Oman, Fly Dubai, Himalayan, Nepal Airlines, and Air Arabia, operating international flights from Tribhuvan Airport, to the department for discussion. After the discussion, the department decided that if the airlines ‘offload’ passengers, the reason for this should be given in writing to the passengers and the airport immigration.