Draft of 'Visa Policy 2026' approved by cabinet

The draft of the 'Visa Policy 2026' has been approved in a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman.

This decision was adopted during the 16th cabinet meeting held at the Cabinet Division conference room of the Bangladesh Secretariat on Monday (August 10).

The 'Visa Policy 2026' has been formulated with the objectives of simplifying and streamlining the arrival and departure of foreigners in Bangladesh, attracting foreign investment, businesses, and skilled human resources, encouraging the tourism and hospitality sectors, ensuring the transfer of technology and knowledge, maintaining national security and international diplomatic balance, establishing international travel management based on the principle of reciprocity, and building a modern, service-oriented migration framework.

The new policy has been formulated to make the existing visa procedure timely, secure, dynamic, and simplified. While the 'Visa Policy 2006' featured 33 visa categories, the new policy sets 34 visa categories.

Based on this, all previous visa-related circulars will be cancelled to create an integrated and modern visa framework at both national and international levels. The Ministry of Home Affairs, the Department of Immigration and Passports, and Bangladesh missions abroad will jointly implement this framework.