Belgium’s Van Walter M. Dekstecker and Evelyn Lucaine Klass came to Nepal on study visas. His visa to study in Nepal was valid until May 25, 2021. However, the Immigration Department has decided to deport them by canceling the remaining period of their visas saying that they are engaged in propaganda. Immigration has now decided not to allow them to come to Nepal for five years.
The Ministry of Home Affairs had received information that he had been preaching Christianity in various villages of Panchthar for two years. The ministry directed the immigration department to find out the truth on November 30. The Immigration Department dragged them out and interrogated them. In the process, Van Walter claimed that he did not preach. He said that since Mrs. Evelyn Lucaine was a student of sociology, they went to the village for practice.
The District Administration Office, Panchthar was then asked to understand. While questioning the locals, the administration informed them that they were still preaching the religion. The couple had been living in the house of local Kumar Shrestha since June 2075. According to the locals, the wife used to conduct online classes there while the husband preached as a pastor. Immigration has demanded an answer including attendance at the Patan United Campus where they were admitted to study. But immigration has stated that no response has been received from the campus.
The Immigration Department also directed the Information Coordination and Analysis Branch to investigate their activities. The branch, which got permission on December 19, has submitted a report with the conclusion that they are forcing the adolescents of Dalit and Janajati communities to convert to Christianity in different places of Panchthar. On the basis of the same report, the government has decided to deport them from Nepal for five years. If the foreign national does not act according to the purpose for which the visa was obtained, action will be taken. There is a provision in the Immigration Rules, 2051 that the Immigration Department can cancel the remaining period of the visa and deport it. According to the same law, the couple has been deported.
Antonina Domasenko, a citizen of Ukraine, has been in Nepal since 2014. She was living in Nepal on a tourist and study visa. She went to the Immigration Department on December 3 with a recommendation from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology to renew her study visa. However, the Immigration Department began an investigation into why she has been living in Nepal for so long. She came to Nepal for the first time in 2014 and was seen staying in Nepal renewing her visa several times. He opened up during his research on preaching, building churches, and running Christian schools with money from international NGOs and pastors from the United States, Europe, and other countries.
He was found running a dynamic community school in Bhansepati, Lalitpur, according to the Immigration Department. The immigration report states that the students and teachers of the school were found to be involved in Christian evangelism. It was also found that they were collecting money through social media. Immigration began taking statements against him. During the statement, the Ukrainian woman said that she came to Nepal with her husband and children because she liked Nepal. She made a statement to immigration claiming that she did not preach.
Immigration questioned his intentions and decided to deport him as well. She has also been deported from Nepal for five years. There are a large number of foreigners who come to Nepal for one purpose and run another business. The Department of Immigration has deported 342 foreigners in 2020 alone. Teknarayan Poudel, information officer and director of the Immigration Department, said that they were deported after being punished according to their mistake.
Most of those deported from Nepal are Chinese nationals. This year, 234 people have been evacuated from China. Similarly, 17 people from Bangladesh, 7/7 people from Vietnam and 7 people from Iran have been deported. Six Bhutanese, five-fifths of the United States and Yemen, three-thirds of Guinea and Pakistan, two-thirds of Russia, Sri Lanka, Lebanon and Somalia have been deported from Nepal. The rest of the country has one, according to the Immigration Department.
Those deported in this way have been found to be involved in various crimes along with illegal activities. “Those involved in visa expiration, violating immigration laws, preaching religion, fraud, forged passports, revenue fraud, human trafficking, etc. have been deported,” said Poudel, director of the immigration department. Surveillance has been stepped up again on immigration and aviation services for foreign nationals who have been living comfortably since their visas expired during the Corona transition.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has said that the monitoring of the activities of the foreign nationals who have been staying for a long time has increased as they did not return to their country even during the transition period.
