KATHMANDU: The visit visa scam does not seem to cool down, as it is engulfed by the continued protests in the House of Representatives (HoR) by the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), as they have locked horns with the ruling parties.

RSP and RPP are demanding a parliamentary probe led by an incumbent or former justice to investigate the visit visa scam where they have alleged the direct involvement of Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak. Nevertheless, new subplots in the case are taking center stage, making the already complicated case, more complex.

After RSP lawmaker Sobita Gautam inquired about possible human trafficking during Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s state visit to Spain from June 30 to July 3, by taking references of the news spreading in various media. Nepali Congress and CPN-UML lawmakers along with HM Ramesh Lekhak delivered mockery-laced riposte, at her query.

In the process, Lekhak rather than promising further probing on the alleged case initiated by lawmaker Gautam, tried to swerve the topic with a strategized blame game. He started digging up the old graves of Rabi Lamichhane, chairman of RSP, who has been detained at the district prison in Bhairahawa on pretrial custody in the Supreme Cooperative fraud case.

Lekhak gave remarks on Lamichhane’s first visit to the United States of America. The remarks were heard laudatory to the lawmakers of the ruling party, who could not help but bang the desks to show their approved gestures of solidarity.

He asked a few questions which were more of a rhetorical nature as they were intended to create a dramatic effect rather than to get an answer.

Nevertheless, Lekhak deserves the answers as it may vivify the already tarnished image of being incompetent during his tenure. Let’s analyze all the questions that HM Lekhak asked during the session of the HoR on July 9.

Lekhak quizzed, “Honorable Rabi Lamichhane, who is also a member of this parliament, however, the situation is different now, once he went to the United States of America as a visitor on a visitor visa, I have heard; the one who goes as a visitor is a visit visa?”

“Technically, there is no term as ‘Visitor Visa’ in the U.S., specifically they are labeled as a B-1/B-2 visa. These are meant for individuals traveling to the U.S. temporarily for business (B-1) or pleasure/ tourism (B-2). Despite the term being different, the purpose of a B-2 visa can be interchanged or understood as a visitor visa, which is a nonimmigrant visa, which allows temporary stays, not permanent residence,” he said.

“I want to know whether he went to the USA as a visitor or not?” Lekhak added.

Indeed, Lamichhane embarked on a trip to the USA as a tourist after attaining his B2 visa, by going through hefty procedural paperwork and a cumbersome interview process. This is one of the few ways to get a legal entry in the USA.

“And going on a visit visa to get the citizenship of the same country, can this be done or not?” Lekhak further asked.

It can be done legally. As soon as the visitor with a B2 visa enters U.S. ports of entry; Customs and Border Protection officers issue the I-94 (Arrival/ Departure Record) and stamp his/her visa with a prohibitory order which limits their stay up to six months. Within six months, a visitor can legally change his/her status to elongate stay.

Either they can apply for an EB-1A visa, which is granted to individuals with ‘extraordinary ability’ and open doors for a Green Card, or they can apply for Asylum which allows individuals to legally reside in the country until the court gives the final verdict. Both of these processes can legally open the door to US citizenship. Almost all the Non-Resident Nepali Association (NRNA) members who are contributing to the economy of the country chose this way for their citizenship.

Even individuals going through the ‘Donkey route’ or ‘Down route’, once they enter the USA can apply for asylee or refugee status, and if approved they can get citizenship. Most of the Nepalese have attained citizenship in this way and now they are proudly serving in top-notch positions of NRNA.

“Is that the misuse of a visitor visa or not?” Lekhak further inquired.

With the abovementioned shreds of evidence, one can claim that it is not misuse of a B2 visa as there is not any official term for a visitor visa in the USA. The channel is legal, and so is the process.

The ‘Departure Report-Purpose Wise’ of individuals can be traced form Department of Immigration which is under Ministry of Home Affairs where people travelling to the USA on B2 visa as a visitor, is not a misuse.

If Lekhak wants to hear this as illegal; except for the individuals who enter the USA from the Electronic Diversity Immigrant Program are illegal. Then, all the NRNs are illegal, all the students who attained US citizenship after getting entry through F1, M1, and J1 along with work visas with H1B, H2A, and H2B who later converted themselves into US citizens, are illegal.

“So, the cadre of a party whose chairman has misused a visit visa, should they be teaching ethics to others or not?” Lekhak questioned.

It is evident that then the ambitious Rabi Lamichanne, who went to the USA by legal channel cannot be deemed as the one who misused his B2 visa. The ethics paucity is evident in Home Minister Lekhak. Instead of putting in the paper when some of his own and opposition lawmakers asked to facilitate the probe into alleged corruption at airport immigration regarding visit visa, he has been holding the position.

Lekhak seemed to be relying on Harry S. Truman’s famous phrase, “If you can’t convince them, confuse them,” a political tactic often employed when solid arguments are lacking.

This method is widely regarded as unethical because it favors manipulation over honest dialogue and genuine understanding.

(Joshi holds a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from the USA.)