Nepalis’ Passport Woes

Aashish Mishra

It would surprise absolutely no one who has ever been abroad on Nepali documents to learn that Nepal’s passport is weak. In fact, according to the Henley Passport Index, a ranking system devised by the international investment migration consultancy firm Henley and Partners on the basis of data provided by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Nepal’s passport is one of the weakest in the world.

In a ranking that shows Nepal’s passport may only be slightly more authoritative than a blank piece of paper with our photo pasted on it and a status that reflects extremely poorly on the extent, or lack thereof, of our global standing and credibility, Henley, in its report released in July this year, positioned Nepal 106 out of a total of 112 countries it looked at. 

This is bad even before you take in the fact that Nepal shares this position with Palestine, a territory that is not even recognised as a country by the likes of the United States of America, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Australia, Japan and their allies and is not a full member of the United Nations. 

Equally embarrassingly, Nepal’s passport stands a position below North Korea, a country against which the United Nations Security Council has passed nearly a dozen resolutions and sanctions since 2006.

Furthermore, in a sign of how we have actually been worsening over the years, Nepal stood at the 98th position in the Henley index a decade ago in 2012 and occupied the 97th spot five years ago in 2017.

Similarly, as per the Index, which also looks at the number of destinations a passport allows its holders to access without a pre-obtained visa, Nepalis only get visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 38 countries. 

This is well below the global average of 107 and less than all of the South Asian nations except Pakistan and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

While Henley only releases the ranking without going into much detail about the reasons for a passport’s strength, the global citizenship and residence advisory company headquartered in the UK does state that a nation’s weakness may be caused by factors like income, conflict, organised crime and political instability.

Specifically in the case of Nepal though, foreign affairs experts feel that our passport’s poor credibility could be linked to our use, or rather misuse, of it during the conflict period. Up until the 1990s, Nepalis were allowed to travel without prior visas to several countries in the European Union and South East Asia. However, our countrymen allegedly abused this provision which damaged our reputation and led many nations to impose restrictions on our travels. 

For Nepali millennials and Gen-Z, it seems like a fairytale to hear that their parents and grandparents could travel to Europe and beyond without having to suffer through the dishearteningly strict visa approval process.

Likewise, another reason often given for the lack of trust in Nepal’s laissez-passer is the citizens’ propensity to overstay their visas or live illegally in the nations they travel to. International travel agencies also call out Nepalis (some even on their websites) for extending their stay beyond what is permitted by their visas or hiding and remaining in other countries as illegal immigrants. This is a rather shameful image to have but one that we have no one to blame for but ourselves.

However, it must be noted that several other countries that hold the same reputation have much stronger passports than ours. So, a lack of respect for visa rules cannot be the main reason our national ID is so weak.

Whatever the reason though, the Government of Nepal must immediately take steps to resolve the issue of this weak passport. Particularly the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Passports must take initiatives to reach out to our global partners and improve the perception of Nepal’s papers. 

Today, there are no active conflicts in the country, the new constitution has brought stability and the people are better educated and more aware than before. The government must communicate this internationally to improve our passport’s strength.

Meanwhile, Japan’s is the strongest passport in the world as it enables its holders to travel to 193 countries without a prior visa, the Index reveals. 

At number 2 is Singapore whose passport bearers get to travel to 192 countries. Afghanistan’s is the weakest passport in the world.