The Department of Industry (DoI) has now made a rule to recommend business visas valid only for three months at a time for foreign investors to prevent misuse of the facility.
As the investment pledges are increasing but are not fulfilled after the applicant had obtained the visa, the department tightened the business visa issuance system.
According to Ramchandra Tiwari, Director-General at the Department of Industry, they have reviewed some provisions to grant business visas only to genuine investors.
“There have also been cases of applicants submitting fake documents to get business visas. The new rules for business visa recommendations for foreign investors have been made to promote genuine investors,” said Tiwari.
Earlier, business visas and the duration were determined as per their investment pledge. However, the new rule, which went into effect on Friday, states that the investors will only have business visa for three months initially by which time the investor has to submit a certificate of company registration.
After that, the department will recommend extension of another three months by which time the investor will have to submit proof of tax office registration and business shall have new bank account in Nepal.
All the foreign investors who have obtained approval but not fulfilled the latest conditions will have to reapply for business visa.
Meanwhile, investors, their official representatives and their family members will get residential visas if they make an investment of $1 million at one time, according to the new rule.
According to the study of DoI, more than 20 percent of foreign investors were pledging investment only to get visas.
As per Nepal Rastra Bank, the country received commitment for foreign direct investment (FDI) of total NRs. 54.15 billion in the last fiscal year but the actual FDI received during that period amounted to only Rs18.56 billion.
