Kathmandu, Aug 3 (IANS) Nepal has formally requested India to recognise its National Identity Card (NID) as a valid travel document for cross-border travel, aiming to strengthen identity verification and security while facilitating the movement of people between the two countries, a senior immigration official said.
The NID is similar to India's Aadhaar card and contains biometric information, including fingerprints, facial images and iris scans. The Nepali government has made the NID mandatory for accessing several public services, including passport applications, land registration, opening bank accounts and other government services, as it seeks to gradually replace the traditional citizenship certificate with digitally readable identity cards.
Nepal also wants India to recognise the NID as a valid document for the cross-border movement of Nepali citizens, as India currently recognises Nepal's passport and citizenship certificate as official identity documents. Citizens of Nepal and India are not required to carry passports or visas to travel between the two countries.
Ram Chandra Tiwari, director general of the Department of Immigration, told IANS that his office sent a proposal to the Government of India in late June seeking recognition of the NID as a valid travel document for Nepali citizens.
"At present, India recognises mainly Nepal's passport and citizenship certificate as official identity documents. We have formally proposed that the National Identity Card also be accepted as a valid identification document for air travel and cross-border movement," Tiwari said.
Following Nepal's request, officials from the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu recently sought information from Nepal's immigration authorities about the NID.
"The embassy officials made informal inquiries regarding the card's technical and security aspects. It was not a formal bilateral meeting but an exchange of information," Tiwari said.
He said the NID offers stronger security than the traditional citizenship certificate.
"A citizenship certificate is merely a paper document without biometric information, whereas the NID provides a secure and reliable means of identification. Its recognition would enhance security arrangements for both Nepal and India," he added.
Nepal and India share an open border, allowing citizens of both countries to travel without passports or visas for most forms of cross-border movement. Indian citizens travelling to Nepal by air are currently allowed to use passports, voter identity cards or identity cards issued by India's federal or state governments.
More than 4.5 million Nepali citizens have already received the National Identity Card, while around 20 million people have enrolled for one, according to the Department of National ID and Civil Registration.
