The UAE has pardoned 267 Nepali citizens serving sentences for immigration and minor criminal offences, the Nepali Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed on 1 February 2026. The clemency, granted to mark the UAE’s 54th National Day (Eid Al Ittihad), follows months of diplomatic lobbying by the Nepali embassy in Abu Dhabi and signals warmer labour-relations between the two countries. (en.himalpress.com)
Under UAE procedures, prisoners who receive a presidential pardon must still complete administrative formalities. Consular teams are now securing emergency travel documents, booking seats on repatriation flights and coordinating quarantine-free entry for returnees in Kathmandu. Families have been advised that most of the beneficiaries should arrive home within three weeks.
For anyone who will be travelling back to the Emirates for future employment, a reliable visa-processing partner can cut weeks off the paperwork cycle. VisaHQ, whose UAE portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-arab-emirates/) tracks the latest entry rules and document checklists, helps both workers and HR teams assemble submissions, book consular appointments and arrange courier delivery—streamlining the return-to-work timeline.
![UAE pardons 267 Nepali nationals in National-Day amnesty, clearing path for repatriation]()
The decision has financial as well as humanitarian consequences. According to Nepal’s Foreign Employment Board, workers in UAE jails remit very little, so their early release could restore about US $1.5 million a year in lost remittances. For UAE authorities, mass pardons ease prison crowding and demonstrate goodwill toward a critical source of construction and hospitality labour.
Recruitment agencies say the gesture could also help restart stalled government-to-government talks on streamlining work-permit issuance for semi-skilled Nepalis. Employers in Dubai’s free zones, who have struggled to replace departing workers after recent visa-quota changes, hope a friendlier regulatory climate will speed up onboarding later in 2026.
Global-mobility teams with Nepali staff should monitor exit-clearance rules in Kathmandu: repatriated workers may face a six-month bar on redeployment to the Gulf unless exempted by Nepal’s Department of Foreign Employment.
Under UAE procedures, prisoners who receive a presidential pardon must still complete administrative formalities. Consular teams are now securing emergency travel documents, booking seats on repatriation flights and coordinating quarantine-free entry for returnees in Kathmandu. Families have been advised that most of the beneficiaries should arrive home within three weeks.
For anyone who will be travelling back to the Emirates for future employment, a reliable visa-processing partner can cut weeks off the paperwork cycle. VisaHQ, whose UAE portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-arab-emirates/) tracks the latest entry rules and document checklists, helps both workers and HR teams assemble submissions, book consular appointments and arrange courier delivery—streamlining the return-to-work timeline.
The decision has financial as well as humanitarian consequences. According to Nepal’s Foreign Employment Board, workers in UAE jails remit very little, so their early release could restore about US $1.5 million a year in lost remittances. For UAE authorities, mass pardons ease prison crowding and demonstrate goodwill toward a critical source of construction and hospitality labour.
Recruitment agencies say the gesture could also help restart stalled government-to-government talks on streamlining work-permit issuance for semi-skilled Nepalis. Employers in Dubai’s free zones, who have struggled to replace departing workers after recent visa-quota changes, hope a friendlier regulatory climate will speed up onboarding later in 2026.
Global-mobility teams with Nepali staff should monitor exit-clearance rules in Kathmandu: repatriated workers may face a six-month bar on redeployment to the Gulf unless exempted by Nepal’s Department of Foreign Employment.
