Nepal Police on Tuesday night barred 39 Nepali women from travelling to Dubai and Kuwait on visit visas at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport.

“During interrogation, some of the women said they were travelling to Dubai and some to Kuwait. But they didn’t meet the requirement set by the government to visit the Gulf Cooperation Council countries,” DIG Shyam Gyawali, the chief of airport police, said.

Earlier in March, the Department of Immigration issued a 17-point regulation to address visit visa-related issues.

Among the provisions, only those individuals who have a record of travelling to the Gulf twice in the past are allowed to go there on a visit visa.

The documents the women carried did not meet the terms and conditions for travelling on a visit visa, Gyawali added.

“They were returned from the airport last night,” he said.

Pushpa Raj Shahi, chief immigration officer at the airport, said the Immigration department was unaware of the details. “The police returned them before they could make it to the immigration,” he said. “We don’t know the development since then.”

Last year, the government had issued a circular to Nepalis aspiring for foreign jobs to travel only after obtaining a work permit as per the prevailing law.

The circular was issued following complaints from some of the countries like the UAE that they have been receiving hordes of Nepalis on visit visas, many of whom were stranded once they reached the destination.

Additionally, the government has made it mandatory to have an annual taxable income of at least Rs500,000 to be eligible to fly abroad, especially to the Gulf countries on a visit visa.