South Korea-bound students’ visa conundrum

Right after graduating in 2017, Hamim (not his real name) started submitting scholarship applications for master's programmes abroad. In the meantime, he kept working as a marketing officer for a private organisation.

Finally in March last year, he got a scholarship from a Korean university. But as luck would have it, he could not make it there in time for the semester's start. Covid-19 had already broken out, and travel restrictions meant the suspension of flights.

Even after flights resumed, Hamim still could  not board a plane, as South Korean authorities suspended issuing new visas for Bangladeshis since June. Officials concerned said the suspension came after some people tested positive at South Korea despite carrying Covid-19 negative reports from Bangladesh.

All in all, 2020 has been a seriously frustrating year for Hamim, and this frustration is shared by over 200 Bangladeshi students who obtained scholarships for post-graduation and PhD programmes in different universities in South Korea.

Students have urged the government to take special initiatives to ensure they can join the next semester, beginning from March 2021. This is all the more urgent, the students said, because their scholarships might get cancelled if they fail to go to South Korea before the next semester.

They said they have been shuttling between various ministries and the embassy for the past two months to get South Korean visa. They also submitted memorandums to the ministries of foreign affairs, home and education, but none could say exactly when the doors will be open for them.

On June 23, South Korea stopped issuing new visas and strengthened entry restrictions for Bangladeshi and Pakistani nationals following the testing debacle. Although issuing visas for Pakistanis resumed from October 26, Bangladesh is still on the list of suspended countries.

A total of 33 Bangladeshis who had previously-issued visa were found coronavirus positive after their arrival in South Korea. Some 28 visitors were reported positive in Korea till December 24, said South Korea's official Covid-19 related website.

The Korean embassy in a notice recently said, "The Korean government is of the position that it would consider lifting or relaxing visa restriction when the number of Covid-19 cases among Bangladeshi arrivals falls close to nil for a certain period."

However, the students pointed out that Bangladeshi citizens are not the only ones with such cases, as citizens of other countries have also tested positive in South Korea after producing Covid-19 negative reports. To ensure utmost safety, they proposed they would go into a 15-day quarantine in Bangladesh before their departure and complete another 15 days of quarantine after reaching South Korea, all at their own cost if needed.

In a reply to the students' memorandum, the Korean embassy on December 19 said, "To our regret, while we are making continuous efforts, so far the position of the [South] Korean government has not changed. It is mainly due to the continuing infection cases from Bangladeshi arrivals in South Korea, in addition to the Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh."

"South Korea is continuously facing difficulties to address the Covid-19 pandemic, with the recent 2nd and 3rd waves and continuing infections from foreign arrivals," the notice added.

Contacted, Khondker Mohammad Talha, DG (East Asia & Pacific Wing) of the foreign ministry, said, "There is a lot of interaction through our diplomatic channel for the students. But it all depends on the overall coronavirus situation."

He said the foreign minister has already talked to his counterpart in this regard.

"I have talked to the ambassador on December 19. We are trying to arrange at least one special flight for the students," he said on December 21.