Hong Kong (Photo: BBC)
The Hong Kong government has opened visas for Nepali citizens after a hiatus of about 18 years.
Now employment visa, training visa, and student visa have been eased for Nepali talents. The Hong Kong government had put a ban on visas for Nepalis in 2005.
John Lee, chief executive of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region announced in his policy address on Wednesday that the criteria for entry into Hong Kong has been relaxed for Nepali talents.
This is the second policy address by Lee, who has been Hong Kong's chief executive for a year, in which he has mentioned relaxation of visa policies for talents coming from Nepal, Vietnam and Laos.
John Lee said in the third point of his policy address number 57, "We will relax the visa policy for the talents of Nepal and Laos for employment, training, and study in institutions run under the university grant fund."
With this new policy, Nepali engineers, medical doctors, IT workers, and other talents will get employment visas in Hong Kong easily. Also, Nepalis will now get a Hong Kong visa for training in any field.
Some Nepalis in Hong Kong are confused by John Lee's policy speech. Visas have been opened, but there is confusion as to whether all visas, including those for domestic workers, which were closed in 2005, have been opened.
Yek Narayan Sharma, who has been a solicitor in Hong Kong for a long time, clarified this while talking to Nepalkhabar.
Hong Kong's Chief Executive John Lee after a visia policy address on Wednesday (Photo: SCMP)
"With John Lee's speech, visas have been opened for Nepali talents - engineers, medical doctors, IT workers, etc. Visas have also been opened for students and one-year training at the most, Sharma said, but not for domestic workers and other workers."
In 2005, entry of Nepalis for employment in Hong Kong was stopped after visas for Nepali workers were banned. Prior to that, Nepalis were getting jobs in Hong Kong, especially as domestic workers and in the restaurant sector.
About 40,000 Nepalis of British Gurkha military families are living in Hong Kong, and are permanent residents of Hong Kong. In 2005, after visas for Nepali workers were stopped, only Nepalis who married the same Gurkha military family could come to Hong Kong for residence.
Hong Kong is becoming an attractive destination for Nepalis due to its close proximity and high level of modern development. But since 2005, the visit visa for Nepalis in Hong Kong has also been made very strict.
But even according to the new visa policy, domestic workers and restaurant workers from Nepal cannot be brought to Hong Kong. Visa is not open for them.
According to Sharma, in 2005, visas were also stopped in Hong Kong for Nepalis coming for training along with domestic workers. But now the training visa is made available.
"In 2005, training visas for Nepalis were also banned, now they have been opened. If there is a good company, Nepalis who have completed their bachelor's degree can now be brought to Hong Kong on a training visa", says Sharma, "Training visa for Nepalis is very new in Hong Kong. Previously, it was only given to the citizens of other countries."
