Visa applications to travel abroad increase: VFS-Global

KATHMANDU: Visa applications to travel abroad from Nepal have increased significantly due to ease in travel restrictions as the Covid 19 infection has subsided. As per the statistics from Visa Facilitation Services Global (VFS-Global), travel trends increased by 600% by the end of May 2022 in comparison with data till the end of May last year. "If we compare the visa processing applications that of the year 2019 vs May 2022, it has increased by about 130%. Volumes in 2021 were significantly less as many international borders were closed with pandemic-induced travel restrictions. However, riding on the high pent-up demand volumes in the first half of 2022 have more than doubled as compared to pre-pandemic levels," said Elizabeth Samuel, Deputy Regional Head North and East India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Israel at VFS. As per the VFS, students selected Australia, Canada, Japan and the UK as their major destinations to fly to. "The upsurge in the student visa application also contributed significantly to the overall rise in visa application volumes in 2022," Samuel added. With ease in travel restrictions, students vying for abroad studies have also been applying for 'No Objection Certificate (NOC)' from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. "Around 12,000 to 15,000 students obtain NOC monthly," chief of NOC section Education Under-Secretary Hari Prasad Niraula said. As per the records, 102,873 individuals got the NOC in the first 11 months of the current fiscal year that ended in mid-June for different countries. The number stood at 30,473 between April 14 and June 19," the official added. Till mid-June, the positivity rate of Nepal stood at 0.68% with no records of critical cases. By mid-June, the number of active cases in Nepal was recorded at 97 while it spiked by three times to 280 within 15 days' time duration. Coronavirus has been mutating or shape-shifting. Amongst the sub-variants of omicron, the latest ones experts are concerned about — BA.4 and BA.5 — are very closely related to the omicron variant behind last winter's wave. Currently, there are 348 active cases in the country as 19 infected patients recovered in the past 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health and Population. No death from Covid 19 has been reported in the past 24 hours. The Covid 19 death toll in the country stands at 11,952 to date. READ ALSO:

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