Chamber of Commerce Romania Bangladesh has expressed its disappointment at the issuing of visas to Romanians who want to visit Bangladesh for business and other purposes.
Mohammed Rafiqul lslam, president of the Bucharest-based organization, recently wrote to Md Shahriar Alam, state minister for foreign affairs of Bangladesh, in this regard, said a press release issued on Wednesday.
He requested the state minister to make the visa processing smoother and less time-consuming.
According to the letter, several Romanian citizens have become victims of the Bangladesh embassy’s bureaucratic process in regard to issuing of visas.
Rafiqul remarked that the embassy was intentionally discouraging a section of Romanians from travelling to Bangladesh.
He said in his letter: "Citizens of Romania didn't face such problems before the opening of the embassy; they could travel to Bangladesh with an on-arrival visa or can collect a visa from another country. Unfortunately, now the embassy has turned out to be a bureaucratic powerhouse in Bucharest.”
He continued: "The Romanian consular section in Dhaka is issuing 5,000 visas to our workers, but what we are doing in issuing visas to them is questionable; this unfriendly visa policy may bring adverse impacts on manpower export to Romania and hamper business relationships with the country, and they may lose interest in Bangladesh.
Also Read
"We expatriate Bangladeshis living in Romania, with decades of hard work, developed business relationships with Romania, now we have partners and family members who aren't feeling comfortable with the service of the embassy about issuing the visa."
The press release mentioned that Romanians do not have to go to the embassy concerned to get a visa in order to visit India, as travel is possible with an e-visa.
The Chamber of Commerce Romania Bangladesh suggested that the visa application process should be modernized and the visa policy should be reviewed.
Yearlong multiple-entry business and tourist visas should be granted to Romanians, and Europeans of Bangladeshi origin should get NVR (no visa required) visas free of cost, it said.
