India, Bangladesh all set to enter visa-free regime in future

India and Bangladesh may have a visa-free regime akin to the one that exists between Germany and France and 24 other European nations, said Syed Muazzem Ali, Bangladesh High Commissioner to India, on 19 December at its deputy High Commission in Kolkata during the final program of Vijay Diwas.

Ali said that the two neighbours were working on a project of the World Bank to realize the smooth movement of citizens between the two countries without the requirement of a passport. Their movement will be approved on the basis of the Aadhaar card numbers for Indians and the national registry for Bangladeshis.

He, however, sounded a note of caution, saying that it would take quite some time for this system to be implemented, and he might not be alive to see it. The Times of India quotes him as saying that it may take up to a decade to implement this system. He adds that the Indian Aadhaar card does not mention citizenship of a person as it is essentially a biometric card. Ali said that many changes were needed to make the visa-free regime a reality and added that to execute it a committee had been established.

Ali said that he had come up with this plan during his tenure as a French ambassador. He felt that the dream of travelling without visas and passports would be realized as the efforts were ongoing and added that currently officials and diplomats of the two countries were able to travel without visas.

If you are looking to travel to Bangladesh, get in touch with Y-Axis, a prominent consultancy for immigration services, to apply for a visa.