US government starts resettlement process

Kathmandu, March 07: The Unites States have proposed for the establishment of Overseas Processing Entity (OPE) in Nepal to begin the formal process of resettling over 60,000 exiled Bhutanese in the US in the next five years.

The OPE will assist the US government's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration under Department of State in processing support needed to prepare for resettlement. 

The OPE is proposed only for the purpose of transferring up to 60,000 exiled Bhutanese to US in the next few years.

The Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration sent a request on February 13 to the foreign ministry of the Nepal government for approval to establish the OPE in Kathmandu. It is expected that the office would be set up within July.

Nepal had given green signal to the US government to begin planning for a resettlement program as third-country resettlement can be an option  to permanent solution of the prolonging crisis.

It is expected that the OPE would also be useful for repatriating other refugees living in Nepal. However, the primary objective of the office is for resettlement of the exiled Bhutanese. Bhutan News Service