NEW DELHI — Iran has suspended visa-free entry for Indian citizens after a sharp rise in human trafficking cases involving Indians lured by fraudulent job offers, the Indian government said. The decision takes effect Saturday, Nov. 22.
Under the new rules, Indians traveling to Iran or transiting through the country must obtain a visa before arrival.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs said on Monday that the main goal of Iran’s decision is to dismantle the operations of human-trafficking networks. The ministry said traffickers had exploited the visa-free arrangement to send numerous Indians to Iran with promises of jobs that did not exist.
The ministry said many were told they could find well-paying jobs in Iran or use the country as a transit point to reach Gulf states or Europe. In reality, after arriving in Iran, many were kidnapped, with traffickers demanding ransom for their release.
The pattern came to the Indian government’s attention after a series of kidnapping and trafficking cases surfaced. Investigations found a growing number of Indians were being lured to Iran with fake job offers and then detained, the ministry said.
The Indian government had already warned last month that some agents were sending people to Iran on the pretext of jobs and that visa-free entry was meant only for tourism, not for work.
Iran granted short-stay visa-free entry to citizens of several countries starting in February of last year as part of efforts to expand diplomatic ties. The arrangement allowed Indian passport holders to visit Iran for up to 15 days at a time, once every six months. But Tehran has now decided to scrap that facility because of the alarming rise in trafficking cases.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report