A remote, mountainous, peaceful Buddhist kingdom nestled between India and China, known as one of the happiest countries in the world, is set to become more remote for Americans as it faces the wrath of US President Donald Trump.
The Trump administration is mulling a new travel ban that would affect citizens from dozens of countries to varying degrees, including Bhutan.
Citing anonymous officials, it stated that the draft list comprised 43 countries, categorized into three levels of travel restrictions.
The red category of countries whose citizens would be completely barred from entering the United States includes Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen.
Another 10 countries in the orange category — Belarus, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Turkmenistan — would see their visas sharply restricted.
“In those cases, affluent business travelers might be allowed to enter, but not people traveling on immigrant or tourist visas,” the New York Times said.
Citizens from countries on the orange list would also have to undergo in-person interviews to receive a visa.
Another 22 countries on the yellow list would have 60 days to address US concerns or risk being moved up to one of the more stringent categories.
“The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive internal deliberations, cautioned that the list had been developed by the State Department several weeks ago, and that changes were likely by the time it reached the White House,” it said.
As one of his first acts in office, Trump froze the United States’ refugee admission program and almost all foreign aid.
Trump ordered the US government to identify countries whose nationals should be banned from entering on security grounds, a move akin to the so-called “Muslim ban” of his first term.
That ban — which in 2017 targeted citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen — ignited international outrage and led to domestic court rulings against it.
Iraq and Sudan were dropped from the list, but in 2018, the Supreme Court upheld a later version of the ban for the other nations — as well as North Korea and Venezuela.
While there is nothing new in the Trump administration preparing a list of countries for the travel ban, what took many people by surprise is the inclusion of the ‘very peaceful’ kingdom of Bhutan in the red list.
Bhutan: The Misfit In The Red List?
Bhutan could feature on the Red List, along with countries such as Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen.
All other countries on this list share certain prominent features: They are either long-term adversaries of the United States, such as Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela, or they are countries known for their strong association with terrorism, like Afghanistan and Yemen, where the US has been directly involved in fighting terrorism.
A third category of countries is those that have been going through a civil war for a long time, such as Libya, Syria, and Somalia.
However, Bhutan does not fit any of these checklists.
It is not an adversary of the US, nor is it known for its terror links. It is also not going through any civil war. Rather, the country has consistently been ranked as the Happiest Country on Earth.
Former Bhutanese King Jigme Singye Wangchuck famously declared in 1972 that “gross national happiness is more important than gross domestic product.”
The country is also not Muslim, as travel bans in Trump’s first term were often termed as a Muslim ban. The country is so low-key that many Americans will struggle to identify it on a world map.
Bhutan: The Land of the Thunder Dragon
Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a South Asian country, nestled in the Himalayas, between India and China.
Bhutan, along with Tibet, converted to Buddhism at an early date. Although the country was never colonized, it became a protectorate of the British Empire in India.
In 1910, the Treaty of Punakha guaranteed British advice in foreign policy in exchange for internal autonomy in Bhutan. The same arrangement continued under a new treaty with India in 1949, in which both countries recognised each other’s sovereignty.
Bhutan joined the United Nations in 1971 and currently has relations with 56 countries. While dependent on the Indian military for its security, Bhutan maintains its own military units.
The country was opened to outsiders for the first time in the 1970s, when foreign tourists were allowed to visit the remote country. Even today, the government allows only a limited number of foreign tourists to enter the country each year, who must pay a daily fee for their visit.
Bhutan did not get television until 1999. The country still lacks traffic lights, making it perhaps the only country in the world without them.
The remote country has a population of less than 800,000 people. It also has one of the lowest crime rates in the world.
None of this is a red flag. The question then arises, why this remote Himalayan country could end up on the red list of Trump’s travel ban?
Why Bhutan Could Be On The Red List?
The U.S. government has cited “national security concerns” and “irregular migration patterns” as the primary reasons for adding Bhutan to the list of countries subject to travel bans.
According to official sources, there has been an unexpected increase in Bhutanese nationals overstaying their visas or attempting to enter the U.S. through unauthorized channels, as reported by The Economic Times.
A local newspaper in Bhutan, The Bhutanese, reported that Bhutan was listed because of its high U.S. visa overstay rate.
Around 43 percent of Bhutanese visitors overstayed their visas in FY 2022, including 60 percent of tourists and business travelers, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The DHS also reported a 37% rise in Bhutanese visa violations in the past year, prompting stricter measures.
There were 112 overstays out of 255 total visitors from Bhutan in FY 2022. The following fiscal year, there were only 72 overstays out of 371 total visitors from Bhutan, according to local media reports.
These visa violations and overstays may have prompted the Trump administration to place Bhutan on the red list, along with countries such as Afghanistan and Somalia.
Ironic Twist
In an ironic twist of fate, Bhutan follows exactly the kind of immigration policies that Trump’s MAGA supporters want to follow in the US. The Himalayan kingdom has for years followed an isolationist policy.
Immigration in the country, even for tourism purposes, is strictly controlled. Every year, only about 100,000 tourists are allowed to enter the country. However, even among them, an overwhelming majority are from India, who only need an entry permit for Bhutan.
Bhutan also maintains strict control over the country’s citizenship. In 1985, the Bhutanese government passed a controversial law, which declared that anyone who could not prove residence from 1958 or earlier was an illegal immigrant.
Overnight, thousands of ethnic Nepalese became stateless citizens. Over the next few years, more than 100,000 ethnic Nepalese people, nearly one-sixth of the Bhutanese population, were expelled from the country.
Now, Trump wants to adopt similar, tighter immigration controls and deport people deemed illegal immigrants.
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Nitin J Ticku is the Managing Editor of the EurAsian Times. He holds a double Master’s degree in Journalism and Business Management and has nearly 20 years of global experience. CONTACT The Author:
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Nytten (at) gmail.com
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With Inputs From AFP
