Chinese nationals on tourist visas found working at a Chinese-funded meat processing plant in Nepal have been told to obtain work permits or leave the country within a set deadline. However, Chinese nationals found working at the plant in violation of their business visa conditions are being deported. The decision to allow tourist visa holders time to change the visa type or leave Nepal came after the Chinese Embassy informally requested flexibility, citing the scale of the investment and the genuine nature of the industrial project. The 88 Chinese nationals who entered Nepal on business visas issued for activities associated with other companies but were found working at the project are being deported after their visas were cancelled and fines were imposed under Nepal’s immigration laws. The Department of Immigration said on September 23 that it had initiated the deportation process for the 88 Chinese nationals for violating the conditions of their business visas. Immigration officials also identified an additional 329 Chinese nationals who had entered Nepal on tourist visas and were working at the same project. The Chinese nationals were working at Ziyan Foods Private Limited, which is developing the Nepal Heat-Processed Buffalo Meat Export to China Project at Sahan in Marini Rural Municipality of Sindhuli district, in financial partnership with Chengdu Tian Food Limited. The project is among the largest Chinese investments in Nepal and is potentially the country’s largest investment project in the agricultural sector, with a promised investment of NPR 20 billion. In the case of the Chinese nationals who were working in the project and arrived in Nepal on tourist visas, we have created an environment in which they can obtain labour permits or complete the required procedures and leave within the stipulated period of 20 days to one month. During an inspection, it was found that these people were not here to engage in wrongdoing or theft; they were genuinely working. According to an immigration official, Chinese Embassy had also made an indirect request for flexibility for its nationals working at the meat processing plant despite holding tourist visas. The Embassy had said that the plant was a genuine enterprise and that the Chinese nationals were working there in accordance with the project’s requirements. The immigration authorities had adopted a middle path by proceeding with deportation in cases involving fraud while giving other workers time to regularise their status or leave Nepal. The 88 Chinese nationals found to have violated their business visa conditions are being deported. They must submit their air tickets and pay the prescribed fines before their deportation can proceed. Once they submit their air tickets and pay their fines, they are deported. They have been barred from entering Nepal for three years.
Nepal Balances Immigration Enforcement
