No business, no issue. Visa for the asking!

Kent Bruce Crane, a Belize national, has been obtaining business visa for the last 14 years, even though his firm's registration has not been renewed for the last seven years. His business visa was extended on February 17, 2007, for five years.

The company — Nepal Wildlife Development Company Pvt Ltd (NWDC) — was set up in 1993 and was registered at the Company Registrar's Office (CRO) and the Department of Industry (DoI) for promotion of eco-tourism and hospitality business through a golf course and a luxury resort.

However, the company could never be operational in over 14 years. A report prepared by the DoI monitoring team in January this year states construction of a seminar hall, guest house and few buildings has started at Lapsiphedi, VDC-3, where he purchased 519 ropanis of land in 1994. Later he also managed to get on lease an additional 150 ropanis of land in the VDC.

The Immigration Rules, 1994, say investors can get a one-year visa during the start-up phase of their venture, and for five years after the investment is made.

"We are bound to issue a visa if the DoI recommends someone," says Durga Prasad Pokhrel, director of the department. "We do not investigate every application", he added. Crane has used five different passports issued either by the London High Commission or by the Embassy of Belize in Washington DC. The latest passport (No 004954), in which he obtained the five-year business visa, was issued on February 8, 2007 from the Embassy of Belize in Washington DC.

Crane had two passports which have not expired. The Passport (No 0290773) that was issued on January 25, 2005 will expire on January 24, 2015, while the second passport will expire on October 4 next year. Of these two passports, the first one was issued from the Embassy of Belize in Washington DC and the second one from the Belize High Commission in London.

According to a source, Crane had used a different passport when he first came to Nepal 13 years ago. Later he used the passport (No A 000666) issued from the Belize High Commission and obtained business visa for a year. The passport expired in October 2004.

Despite repeated orders of the Company Registrar's Office to NWDC to furnish the annual report and audit report from the fiscal year 1998-99 to 2006-07, the company submitted them on January 14 this year. These reports are to be submitted annually.

Ashok Kumar Dahal, director at the Foreign Investment Section of DoI, said the visa extension was made on the ground that Crane's property worth millions of rupees is still in Nepal. "We recommended the DoI to extend the visa as he has invested a huge sum of money in Nepal and he has to frequently visit the country," he said.

The project could not kick off due to a court stay order against him, Dahal said. He said Crane got his visa extended on the pretext that he could not start the project due to the adverse situation here.
Crane could not be reached despite several telephone calls and e-mails sent to him. When contacted, an employee at Crane's office at Lakhankhel said he is out of the country.