Immigration office in the lake city has arrested a dozen visitors, including six from Russia, for overstaying their visa this fiscal year

Lal Prasad Sharma 

Police have arrested a German national who has been living illegally in Pokhara for the last 10 years. Luzifer Pless, who was arrested from Lakeside a few days earlier, was on Wednesday sent to the Department of Immigration (DoI). Pless was found without passport and other necessary documents, according to officials. Pless informed police that he entered Nepal from India and had been deported from Nepal once in the past.

A few days ago, police had arrested a Dutch citizen Prem Ojas from a hotel in Pokhara for overstaying his visa. Ojas has been working as a toilet cleaner at Lakeside for the past 10 years. He was arrested after the hotel owner sold his property to another person. The new hotel operator had provided him Rs50 as daily wages. Ojas was sent to the DoI after his arrest. He is currently in the Central Jail.  Pless and Ojas are only just two cases highlighting how some foreigners have been living illegally in Pokhara and other parts of the country. However, the government does not have the exact data on numbers of overstaying foreigners in the country.

Santosh Lamichhane, chief at the Pokhara Immigration Office, said that most foreigners, who have been living illegally in Pokhara, are willing to live as refugees in Nepal. “Some are found living here as they have no resources to return from Nepal,” Lamichhane said. Pokhara Immigration Office has arrested 12 foreign tourists, including six from Russia, for overstaying their visa this fiscal year.

DiU Director Ishwor Raj Paudel admitted that foreigners overstaying in Nepal is a growing problem since the government has not have a proper mechanism to check the practice. “Overstay and visa expiry can only be ascertained if and when they are arrested by police in some other cases,” said Paudel, adding that the DoI has deported more than 160 foreigners so far this fiscal. “Fifteen of them are still in police custody and jail.”

Generally, foreigners are being arrested for carrying fake passports and overstaying, among other charges. Local businessmen said that people from China, who entered Nepal on a tourist visa, have been running businesses in Pokhara and other parts of the country.  “Though we have limited human resources, we have managed to arrest some tourists who were staying here illegally,” said Inspector Bhagawati Timilsena of the Tourist Police in Pokhara. The DoI has appealed to the stakeholders concerned to inform police or local administration if they find foreigners staying illegally in Nepal.

Published on: 31 March 2019 | The Kathmandu Post