Foreign affairs adviser Md Touhid Hossain on Thursday said that Bangladesh would move forward through a normal diplomatic procedure, seeking exemption from the United States’ newly imposed visa bond requirement for Bangladeshis along with citizens of some other countries.
He said that the US move was unfortunate for Bangladeshis and it would hurt them, but it was nothing unusual since it was linked to immigration-related problems.
‘The United States’ decision is not applicable to Bangladesh only. Bangladesh is among the countries on the list having immigration problems. And the move is nothing unusual,’ Touhid said, responding to reporters’ questions at his Segun Bagicha office in the capital Dhaka.
He said that Bangladeshis were among those in the US availing social safety.
Asked whether it was a failure of the interim government to negotiate with the US, Touhid, also a former diplomat, said that it was a policy issue and so they had hardly anything to do in their short tenure.
He, however, said that he had time and again pointed to the irregular migration from Bangladesh as a major problem and the previous governments were responsible for the long standing issue.
The US has expanded a visa bond policy to include Bangladesh and 24 other countries, requiring citizens of these nations to post refundable bonds of up to $15,000 as part of their application for a US visitor visa, according to the US state department web site.
Under the updated programme, passport holders from the newly added countries could be asked to pay a bond of $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000 at the time of their visa interview if they are otherwise eligible for a B1/B2 tourism or business visa.
The US visa category B1 is for temporary business activities while the B2 is for tourism purposes.
The list of affected countries now totals 38, mainly from South Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.
About the recent suspension of the issuance of visas by Bangladeshi missions in India, Touhid said that the visa issuance remained temporarily halted at three Bangladesh mission offices in India on security ground.
The foreign adviser said that he had agreed with the decision of the sports ministry not to travel to India to play T-20 World Cup, following the exclusion of cricketer Mustafizur Rahman by Indian Premier League franchise Kolkata Knight Riders, following directives by the Indian Cricket Board, citing security concerns.
‘If our team goes, it will not be just the team — supporters will also travel to watch the matches. Their safety is also a concern,’ Touhid said.
‘How can we be assured that they will remain safe?’ he questioned.
The adviser said that he fully supported the position earlier stated by adviser Asif Nazrul who said that while an individual cricketer might travel for a short duration, sending the national team would also involve supporters travelling to attend matches, raising broader security concerns.
