The Bhutanese Leading the way.
An article by the New York Times that said that Bhutan is a on a draft ‘Red List’ along with 11 other countries for a complete travel ban to the USA set alarm bells ringing in Bhutan, and it made global and regional news as well.
A Reuters article published later said that Bhutan had been moved to the milder Yellow List where countries are given time to address unspecified deficiencies. There is also an orange list with partial restrictions.
A senior official source in Bhutan confirmed that Bhutan is no longer on any Red List and is on the Yellow List for now, however, the source said that Bhutan is working very hard to even get off the Yellow List when the final list comes out.
No 1990’s angle
There was speculation in some international media outlets and some assertions by foreigners on social media that Bhutan was being punished for the 1990’s issue of the people in the camps.
This paper contacted the US Embassy in Delhi, and requested for a formal response from the State Department in Washington on Bhutan’s status and why was such a decision taken.
The US Embassy Spokesperson got a response from the State Department in Washington and the short reply to the query by The Bhutanese was, “The State Department is undertaking a full review of all visa programs as directed under Executive Order 14161 and executing on administration priorities. We have nothing to announce, at this time.”
The Executive Order 14161 issued by President Donald Trump is primarily related to better visa vetting. It says that within 60 days of the order the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence shall jointly submit to the President, a report identifying countries throughout the world for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries.
The above makes it very clear that Bhutan being on any list has nothing to do with the 1990’s issue of the people in the camps.
Visa Overstay
A senior official in Bhutan said that the reason given to Bhutan for coming on the Yellow List is visa overstay over a number of years. The overstay was usually over the threshold of 10%.
When one looks at the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Entry/Exit Overstay Report for 2023 the average rate of visa overstays for citizens of 154 countries (that do not have visa waiver) under the business and pleasure (tourism) visa category is 3.20% while Bhutan’s overstay rate in this category is 12.15%. However, Bhutan is not the only one as there are 19 other countries with higher percentages than Bhutan.
In 2022 Bhutan’s Overstay rate for the business and pleasure (tourism) visa category was 60.18% ranking in second place. In 2020 it was 9.02% ranking in 26th place. In 2019 it was 16.67% ranking in 8th place. In 2018 it was 13.07% ranking in 11th place. In 2017 it was 14.21% ranking in 5th place. In 2016 it was 25.89% ranking in 3rd place. In 2015 it was 24.89% and in 2014 it was 20.29% ranking in second place in both years.
The main problem for Bhutan’s visa overstay problem is in this business and pleasure (tourism) visa category.
While the Students and Exchange Visitors visa overstay is also high it is not as bad as the above.
When it comes to visas for Students and Exchange Visitors, the average rate of overstay for 193 countries in 2023 is 3.67% while it is 24.44% for Bhutan. Here again, Bhutan is not alone as there are around 19 countries that have higher numbers than Bhutan.
In 2022 Bhutan’s Overstay rate for the Students and Exchange Visitors visa was 21.94%. In 2020 it was 10.61%. In 2019 it was 14.11%. In 2018 it was 12.02%. In 2017 it was 19.44%. In 2016 it was 24.24%.
Are Bhutanese numbers really worth the attention?
While the percentages seem high, the absolute numbers are miniscule.
When one looks at the overstay data for 2023 and 2022 it is clear that it is a very small group of people are overstaying their visas, but it becomes high when one calculates in terms of percentage and this is where Bhutan is getting hit.
In the Business or Pleasure (tourism) visa category, out of 181 Bhutanese supposed to come back, around 23 overstayed in 2023. In 2022 out of 113 around 68 overstayed in this category.
In the Students and Exchange Visitor visa category out of 180 a total of 48 overstayed in 2023. In 2022 out of 155 around 34 overstayed in this category.
The numbers are very less, but it becomes high when calculating percentages and this is what US Immigration authorities are more focused on than the absolute numbers.
Even on the Canada border crossing, while there were reports of 300 Bhutanese crossing the border, there was no official confirmation or official report, and in fact, this paper reported in January 2025 that only 5 Bhutanese had been arrested at the US-Canada border while trying to cross over.
Other numbers are also very low compared to the millions of illegal migrants and overstayers from other countries.
Data obtained and first published by this paper from the US DHS in January 2025 shows that 200 Bhutanese have been caught for residing illegally in the USA between 2013 and 2022 a period of 10 years under the category of ‘Expulsions and Noncitizens Apprehensions by Region and Country of Nationality.’ This is compared to 836,844 from Mexico just for one year in 2022 or 230,593 people from Honduras just for a year in 2022.
The paper also first found that the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is a federal law enforcement agency under the US Department of Homeland Security, in the last four years of 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 arrested and detained 51 Bhutanese on immigration violations.
This is compared to 144,037 arrests and detentions by ICE for Mexico in the same period.
US Border Patrol Data from 2007 to 2019 shows 9 Bhutanese being caught at both the Northern Border of Canada and the Southern Border of Mexico while trying to cross over into the USA. Compare this to 11 million border encounters between October 2019 to 2024.
So, it is clear that a very small number of Bhutanese overstaying are now a cause of increased US scrutiny, and an international embarrassment.
MoFAET in full damage control
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade (MoFAET) has been racing to find out why it is on the list, and what can be done to get out of any list as soon as possible.
MoFAET is moving hard and fast on this, as the possibility of Bhutan being on any list already has implications that go beyond visas and travel.
A government source said that some American companies that were interested in investing in Bhutan and even doing some potential joint ventures made their concern known after news first came out in the New York Times that Bhutan is on a draft Red List. This is because there would be significant difficulties and blowback for any US company doing business with a country on a Red List.
The timing could not be worse as the announcement comes at a time when Bhutan is actively seeking international investments.
It has now become imperative that Bhutan get out of any such list as soon as possible.
The only two things clear, so far, is that Bhutan is on a Yellow List and that visa overstay is the reason.
The official said the priority of the hour is to protect Bhutan’s image.
The official said that when it comes to passports, Bhutan’s passports are of international standards.
According to a source the MoFAET is cooperating with its counterparts in the US State Department and this is why Bhutan was put on the Yellow List. Given the additional cooperation being rendered by Bhutan, it is hoped that Bhutan can even get off the yellow list too.
State Department under pressure
With leaking of the lists, the US State Department has been getting a lot of queries from the 40 or so countries listed in the Red, Orange and Yellow lists. Even in these brazen times, the leakage of the list has caused some embarrassment for the State Department.
What is clear from the reporting by two established news agencies is that an internal exercise of the State Department was leaked out, and it is moving fast to try and cover it up. Also, more than the State Department it is the DHS that is driving the whole initiative behind the scenes.
The official Spokesperson of the State Department, Tammy Bruce, in her daily briefings to the press in response to question on the lists denied that there is a list. She said, “Well, first of all, there is no list. What people are looking at over these last several days is not a list that exists here that is being acted on. There is a review, as we know, through the President’s executive order, for us to look at the nature of what’s going to help keep America safer in dealing with the issue of visas and who’s allowed into the country. But what has been touted as something that is an item through the State Department just simply isn’t the case.”
She said that when that review is done, they will have something that they can discuss.
However, it is clear that Bhutan is one of the countries being reviewed under the yellow list and the hope by MoFAET is not to be on the final yellow list once the final list is out.
Crackdown needed on traffickers
Since visa overstay over the years is the key reason for Bhutan being on any list then Bhutan will have to start cracking down on those who intentionally organize tour groups, cultural, business or even official visits to USA with the aim of some of the group members staying back.
This paper earlier pointed out in the WikiLeaks cables on Bhutan three cables from the US Embassies to the USA talking about this issue.
A 2010 cable says that a group of so called Bhutanese cultural performers was the front for human smuggling to the US. The group initially told the US Embassy that their purpose of travel was to perform as members of a Buddhist folk music and dance troupe at several US venues. When interviewed by the Fraud Prevention Unit, some group members admitted that they were actually intending to travel to the US to work illegally and would have to pay USD 3,000 and 4,000 after getting the visa and reaching USA.
In 2008 a group of 9 Bhutanese seeking US Visa was caught when group members admitted to paying USD 10,000 each to their fixer to allow them to work and/or immigrate to the US.
It is clear from the visa overstay that there are still some people engaged in taking commissions and getting them visas to the USA.
Last year in December, a whistle blower filed complaints with the Foreign Ministry and another government agency that a group of 10 Bhutanese people were travelling to the USA with two organizers under the guise of a cultural exchange program. The two would get commissions and the rest eight planned to stay back. The trip was happening based on forged invitation letters.
Based on the complaint, the passport of the main accused was even blocked for a while; however, the group could not be stopped as all the documents were submitted to the US Embassy in Vietnam where the group got their visas. Since such documents are only between the visa applicants and US visa officers who approved the documents, it meant that the Foreign Ministry had no way to verify or investigate the claims.
The group left last year in mid-December, and this paper tried calling the group members local numbers but it is all switched off which is a matter of concern as they were supposed to be back by December 2024.
The fact, that the group got their visa from Vietnam instead of Delhi or even Bangkok shows that US visa officers in these two embassies are wiser about such ‘groups,’ and so the trafficking masterminds are going all the way to countries like Vietnam to get visas.
It can surely be said that with 8 or 9 members of the group overstaying, it will enter the DHS statistics for 2024 and may even have played a role in Bhutan being put under various lists in the internal exercise of the State Department.
On one level, there is very limited verification that the MoFAET can do, as it is actually the job of the US visa officers to verify the documents submitted.
However, given the international embarrassment caused recently, just so that a few traffickers can make money, it is high time that all responsible authorities including law enforcement should crack down and go after such traffickers taking such groups abroad with the intention of overstaying.
With all the international embarrassment and the high stakes for the country local authorities are expected to take a tougher line.
A senior official appealed to Bhutanese not to travel to the USA with the intention of overstaying as it harms the country’s image and interests, and moreover, there are high chances of such over stayers being deported.
