The government has suspended visa-on-arrival facilities for all foreign nationals, except those visiting Bangladesh for election-related purposes.
The one-month suspension will remain in effect from January 15 to February 15.
An instruction in this regard has been sent to all Bangladesh missions abroad by the Election Cell of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, asking them to notify their respective host governments.
A senior official of the foreign ministry said the decision is temporary. “All our missions have been instructed to extend necessary assistance to election observers and other personnel arriving in Dhaka to monitor the polls,” the official added.
The 13th national election is scheduled to be held on February 12. The Election Commission has invited chief election commissioners from 30 countries to visit Bangladesh during the election period.
In addition, invitations have been extended to international organisations, including the Commonwealth, the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the International Republican Institute (IRI), the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and SAARC, to send election observation teams. China and Iran have already expressed their interest in deploying observers.
Meanwhile, the European Union has deployed election observers across all 64 districts, who will remain in the country for an extended period. Closer to the polling date, an additional 90 EU observers are expected to arrive to monitor the election process.
Non-EU countries, including Canada, Norway, and Switzerland, have joined the EU delegation and will work alongside them.
