Over 5,000 Nepalis deported from abroad in last four years

Kathmandu, Mar. 6: The Department of Immigration has handed over eight Nepali citizens deported from the United States on Wednesday morning to the Nepal Police for further investigation.

Among those deported, there is one woman and seven men, including a 47-year-old man. The deported woman is reported to be 35 years old. 

According to Chief of the Immigration Office at TIA, Tirtharaj Bhattarai, the deportees have been identified as Sushma Gharti, Laxman Kattel, Sukumar Pun Magar, Himal BK, Mohan Gautam, Top Bahadur Gharti, Kamal Prakash Oli, and Tirtha Bahadur. 

They were deported to Kathmandu on Wednesday morning via an American aircraft. Bhattarai said that they were handed over to the Nepal Police after completing immigration procedures.

"As soon as they arrived in Nepal, we completed the immigration process and handed them over to the Nepal Police," he said. "The police had requested them to be sent for questioning, so we handed them over accordingly." 

The deportees have been taken by vehicle to the Anti-Human Trafficking Bureau, where the police will conduct necessary inquiries before releasing them.

Meanwhile, the Nepal Police have interrogated eight deported Nepalis from the United States to Nepal.

Superintendent of Police (SP) and Spokesperson for the Anti-Human Trafficking Bureau Narendra Kunwar said that the authorities inquired about the process through which they had travelled to the US. 

During the initial interrogation, it was found that some Nepalis had reached the U.S. via Brazil and were deported for violating immigration laws.

SP Kunwar said that during their statements, the returnees did not express a willingness to file a case against those who facilitated their travel to the U.S. According to him, now, completing all the procedures, they will be handed over to their families.

Since, Donal Trump came to office as the U.S. President, already 27 Nepalis had been deported to Nepal. With the latest deportation, the number 

reached 35.

Over 5,000 deported in four years Meanwhile, in the past four years, over 5,000 Nepalis have been deported from foreign countries, according to the Department of Immigration. 

Between 2021 and November, 2024, a total of 5,137 Nepalis who had travelled abroad for employment, studies, or other purposes were sent back to Nepal. According to the Department of Immigration, in the November of 2024, around 1,200 Nepalis had alone been deported to Nepal under different reasons. As per the record of the Immigration Department, the number of deported individuals has been increasing each year.

According to Director General Govinda Prasad Rijal of the Immigration Department, Nepalis were deported due to immigration denials or involvement in illegal activities in foreign countries. 

In 2021, 879 Nepalis were deported. This number rose to 1,166 in 2022 and further increased to 1,442 in 2023. By the end of November, 2024, nearly 1,200 Nepalis were sent back to Nepal.  The data includes both deportations and directly sent back to respective country from immigration office of the respective countries. 

The US government data showed that a total of 389 Nepali citizens were deported from fiscal years 2019 to 2024.

According to various reports, approximately 5,000 Nepalis entered the US illegally during the tenure of President Joe Biden. Recently, the US government, after Donald Trump’s comeback to office for the second time, the US Administration has already made public the list of 1,365 Nepalis residing illegally in the US or without documents.    

The US has begun sending undocumented illegal immigrants to their respective countries in a phased manner.

Over the past four years, the highest number of Nepalis were deported from the UAE (799), followed by Saudi Arabia (503), Malaysia (389), and Qatar (180). "The countries where most Nepalis go for work are also the ones from which most deportations occur," said information officer and director at the Immigration Department Ishwori Dutta Paneru. 

Reasons for deportations 

There are several reasons why Nepalis are sent back from foreign countries. Some travellers are denied entry due to fake visas, incomplete or suspicious documents, which is classified as "entry refusal."

Immigration officials clarify that just because Nepalis leave Nepal legally does not mean they will be allowed to enter another country. If their documents are questionable, they are immediately sent back.

Additionally, a significant number of deportations occur due to illegal activities. Many Nepalis overstayed their visas, violated local laws, or entered countries illegally. Some were deported for involvement in criminal activities such as murder, violence, theft, robbery, or drug trafficking.

Recently, many Nepalis have attempted to enter the US and European countries illegally, leading to an increase in deportations. The Nepal Police’s Anti-Human Trafficking Investigation Bureau reported that many deported Nepalis were caught while attempting illegal entry with the help of human traffickers.

The Bureau has identified that human traffickers use an extensive route to smuggle Nepalis into 

the US. According to SP Kunwar of the Anti-Human Trafficking Bureau of Nepa Police, generally, Nepalis are being trafficked or reached the US through illegal routes like India, UAE, Turkey, Spain, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemla, Mexico and finally to the US. 

Some Nepalis have also been caught and deported from these transit countries before reaching the US, he said.