Romania is likely to issue visas to more than 15,000 Bangladesh citizens from March to September this year, said a foreign ministry spokesperson Thursday. Last year a consular team from Romania stayed in Dhaka for three months and issued around 5,400 visas. As the mission was run successfully, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen sent a letter to his Romanian counterpart requesting him to operate another consular mission, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) spokesperson Seheli Sabrin said during a weekly briefing. "After that, Romania showed interest in running a consular mission in Dhaka for six months from March to September to facilitate the issuance of visas to Bangladeshis," she added. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is making all the arrangements for the operation of the consular mission of Romania in Dhaka, Seheli said.

China says it will resume issuing ordinary visas and passports in another big step away from anti-virus controls that isolated the country for almost three years, setting up a potential flood of millions of Chinese going abroad for next month’s Lunar New Year holiday. The announcement Tuesday adds to abrupt changes that are rolling back some of the world’s strictest anti-virus controls as President Xi Jinping's government tries to reverse an economic slump. Rules that confined millions of people to their homes kept China’s infection rate low but fueled public frustration and crushed economic growth. The latest decision could send an influx of free-spending Chinese tourists to revenue-starved destinations in Asia and Europe for Lunar New Year, which begins Jan. 22. But it also presents a danger they might spread COVID-19 as infections surge in China. Read more: China races to vaccinate elderly, but many are reluctant China stopped issuing visas to foreigners and passports to its own people at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. The National Immigration Administration of China said it will start taking applications Jan. 8 for passports for tourists to go abroad. It said it will resume issuing approval for tourists and businesspeople to visit Hong Kong, a Chinese territory with its own border controls. The agency said it will take applications for ordinary visas and residence permits. It said the government will “gradually resume” allowing in foreign visitors and gave no indication when full-scale tourist travel from abroad might be allowed. Health experts and economists expected the ruling Communist Party to keep restrictions on travel into China until at least mid-2023 while it carries out a campaign to vaccinate millions of elderly people. Experts say that is necessary to prevent a public health crisis. During the pandemic, Chinese with family emergencies or whose work travel was deemed important could obtain passports, but some students and businesspeople with visas to go to foreign countries were blocked by border guards from leaving. The handful of foreign businesspeople and others who were allowed into China were quarantined for up to one week. Before the pandemic, China was the biggest source of foreign tourists for most of its Asian neighbors and an important market for Europe and the United States. The government has dropped or eased most quarantine, testing and other restrictions within China, joining the United States, Japan and other governments in trying to live with the virus instead of stamping out transmission. Read more: Reports of severe COVID in China are "extremely concerning", WHO Japan and India responded to China’s surge in infections by requiring virus tests for travelers from the country. U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to relate internal discussions, said Washington is considering taking similar steps. On Monday, the government said it would scrap quarantine requirements for travelers arriving from abroad, also effective Jan. 8. Foreign companies welcomed the change as an important step to revive slumping business activity. Business groups have warned global companies were shifting investment away from China because foreign executives were blocked from visiting. The American Chamber of Commerce in China says more than 70% of companies that responded to a poll this month expect the impact of the latest wave of outbreaks to last no more than three months, ending in early 2023. The government has stopped reporting nationwide case numbers but announcements by some cities indicate at least tens and possibly hundreds of millions of people might have been infected since the surge began in early October. The outbreaks prompted complaints Beijing relaxed controls too abruptly. Officials say the wave began before the changes. China only counts deaths from pneumonia or respiratory failure in its official COVID-19 toll, a health official said last week. That excludes many deaths other countries would attribute to COVID-19. Experts have forecast 1 to 2 million deaths in China through the end of 2023. Also Monday, the government downgraded COVID-19 from a Class A infectious disease to a Class B disease and removed it from the list of illnesses that require quarantine. It said authorities would stop tracking down close contacts and designating areas as being at high or low risk of infection.

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has thanked the Romanian government for issuing visas for Bangladeshis from Dhaka. The Romanian Embassy in Delhi issued 580 visas for Bangladeshis in 2020, 2,869 in 2021 and 1,180 in 2022 (January to April 16). Now Romania is issuing visas from Dhaka. Also read: FM inaugurates Bangabandhu Gold Cup football tournament in Sylhet "We are thankful to the Romanian government for their effective initiative of taking Bangladeshis after my fruitful meeting with Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu in October 2021," Momen said on Monday. A good number of Bangladeshis are also going to Romania from the Middle East and Malaysia with valid work visas, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Also read: No chance of Chinese debt trap: FM

The Taliban government has reached out to the Indian government twice in a row, this time to grant Indian visas to Afghan students so that they could complete their studies in India. The students are stuck in Afghanistan since India cancelled their visas in August shortly after the Taliban took over Kabul, reports NEWS18. The Taliban had earlier approached New Delhi to start direct flights between the two countries. Noor Zahid Paiman, a final year Afghan student of BSc Computer Science at Sharda University, said he is stuck in Kabul for over six months now. Noor told News18 over phone, “We met foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi two times and raised the matter with him. He said he reached out to New Delhi regarding it.” Read: Taliban-ruled Afghanistan stares at major humanitarian crisis: speakers Noor went back to Kabul in June during the second wave of Covid-19 in India when all educational institutions, including his university, switched to the online mode of teaching. In just two months, Taliban took over his country and things changed forever. With the Covid situation improving, classes switching back to offline mode, Noor along with 2,500 other Afghan students are still unable to fly to India to pursue their studies as there are no direct flights between the two countries and their visas stand revoked. On August 25, Noor received a communication from the Indian side saying, “In view of the recent developments in Afghanistan and streamlining of the visa process by introduction of the e-Emergency X-Misc visa for Afghan nationals desirous of travelling to India, your above mentioned visa (details concealed) has been cancelled with immediate effect. If you desire to travel to India, you may apply for an e-Emergency X-Misc visa.” Noor said the Afghan students have applied for the new category of visa, but none of the students have been able to get one. Another student of Pune University, Waris Himmat, is also unable to pursue studies back in India. He said the Indian Embassy in Kabul is not working and he along with 200 students, travelled to Iran to get the visa from the Indian Mission there. But he was told that he will need to apply for the new category of visa meant for Afghan nationals. Himmat told News18 that he requested the Indian Mission in Tehran to grant him the visa so that he can attend the classes in person. Meanwhile Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), which gives scholarship to Afghan students, said, “ln case, the university/institute has agreed to the physical presence of the students, they may apply for the Indian e-visa. The benefits available under the ICCR scholarship would be available upon joining the institutes as per past practice.” After the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan in August, New Delhi had issued 200 e-Emergency X-Miscellaneous Visas to Afghan nationals, the external affairs ministry informed the Rajya Sabha. On August 17, as a humanitarian gesture, India introduced “e-Emergency X-Miscellaneous visa” for the distressed residents who wanted to leave the country. Afghan Ambassador Farid Mamundzay to India also raised the matter in an exclusive interview to News18 last week. He said, “Students stranded in Afghanistan are pursuing higher education in various institutions in India. They are enrolled in various universities in Delhi, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and other states. The highest assistance to us from India has been in the field of education. Suspension of their visas was not in good spirit.” Read:Despite mistrust, Afghan Shiites seek Taliban protection “I appeal to the Government of India to allow these students to come to India and complete their education. Those students have not become Taliban or joined Talibani forces overnight, so suspension of their visas sends is a wrong signal. The loss of an academic year is the biggest loss for students. India should consider this as a humanitarian issue and take steps to resolve this crisis. I hope in the coming days, the problem is resolved,” he added.

The Trump administration is barring Iranian investors and business people from entering or staying in the United States on certain types of visas.

The Pakistan High Commission in Dhaka has issued multiple entry visas to all members of the Bangladesh National Cricket Team and management visiting Pakistan for three T20, two Test and one ODI matches to be played in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Karachi respectively.