Nov 6, Kathmandu: The government has tightened foreign business visas.  Department of Industry under the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Supply has tightened business visas for foreign nationals after not bringing in foreign investment as promised.

Recently, foreign investment has been approved only for the purpose of obtaining a business visa by foreigners, the department says. Industry Department said that some foreigners have approved foreign investments only for the purpose of obtaining business visas.

 The government of Nepal has been recommending a business visa to the foreign investor or his official representative and the family members of such investor or his representative after the foreign investment is approved by the Industry Department at the Single Point Service Center (Visa Facilitation Unit) based on the investment.

However, according to the department, foreigners approve investment for the said business visa and then do not register with the company, industry, and tax office and do not even bring in foreign investment. According to the department, foreign citizens who have received business visas may be involved in activities that are contrary to the purpose of the visa, making the work of recommending foreign investment and business visas systematic and dignified to link business visas with actual investment.

Department's foreign investment branch and technology transfer branch director Shankarsinh Dhami said that business visas have been tightened after foreign investments did not come in as promised. According to him, since there is no progress in the industry sector as per the investment commitment, the department has tightened the business visa conditions.

Foreign citizens register industries for investment. However, it is not seen that investment has been brought in since the registration of the industry within the specified time period. In addition, it was not seen that the investment progressed according to the rules set by the government. Therefore, in order to carry out responsible and prescribed work, the department has restricted the visa," he told Clickmandu.

Earlier, the department had been providing business visas for up to one year after foreign investment commitments. During that period, when getting information about whether or not the company was registered, they kept adding business visas, showing various reasons. However, he said that if the specified conditions are not met in the future, the visa will not be extended.

"There is never a problem in giving visas to honest investors," he said, "who are only adding visas that do not work." The business visa of those foreign nationals has been tightened. The department has decided to recommend a business visa for 3 months for the first time after the foreign investment is approved and to recommend the condition that the company registration certificate must be submitted when applying for the next time.

Likewise, if the company registration certificate is submitted, an additional 3-month business visa will be granted. It has been decided to recommend the visa on the condition that when applying for the next time, the tax office registration, bank account opening, and industry registration or industry registration progress report will be submitted.

The government has arranged to recommend a visa for an additional 6 months if the industry registration certificate is submitted, or to recommend a business visa for an additional 3 months if the progress report related to the industry registration is satisfactory. During that period, if the industry is registered, the visa will be recommended with the condition that the process of foreign investment should be started.

If the foreign investment approval is applied again for a new foreign investment approval without fulfilling the conditions of recommending the visa of the previous one who has stayed on a business visa as an investor, his foreign investment will be approved. However, the department has decided that the business visa will not be recommended again based on the approved new foreign investment until the proposed foreign investment is brought in.

In the following case, the additional business visa will be issued only after bringing in the investment as per rule 9 of the Foreign Investment and Transfer Regulations (2020 AD). In addition, the department said that harmony will be maintained by keeping the conditions according to the provisions set in the case of those who have previously taken business visas and applied to extend the duration of their visas.