| By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
The government said Monday it was suspending its visa waiver program with Bangladesh temporarily from July 15 due to rises in the number of Bangladeshis who overstay their visit.
Travelers to and from both countries will now have to get visas.
The Ministry of Justice said Monday that Bangladeshi travelers with under-90 days itinerary must get a visa, beginning mid-July. Korea and Bangladeshi struck a visa waiver program in February 1983.
Career diplomats and public officials will be exempt from the restriction.
``The suspension will continue till the current rate of illegal residents from Bangladesh drops below acceptable levels,'' Song So-young, a justice ministry official, told The Korea Times.
The ministry estimated that of 12,678 Bangladeshi nationals in Korea as of May, 9,891 or 78 percent of them had overstayed their legal residence period, the highest ratio, followed by Peruvians with 70.1 percent, Kyrgyzstanians with 67.3 percent and Iranians with 67 percent.
``Most of them overstaying their visas work at factories,'' Song said, adding, ``The refusal of entry rate for Bangladeshis is also very high, which played a critical role in the suspension.''
Of roughly 4,600 Bangladeshis who arrived in Korea in 2007, 834 or 18 percent were denied entry due to unclear statements regarding the purpose of their visit.
``There is no limit in the length of suspension. We will take into account the illegal resident rate, immigration refusal rate and other relevant indicators before lifting the restriction,'' the official said.
The government shares a visa waiver program with 56 countries around the world. This is the second time for the government to require visas of citizens from once visa-free states following the suspension of Pakistan in October 2001.
pss@koreatimes.co.kr |