<div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain on Tuesday hoped that Italian visa seekers’ demand for the quick issuance of visas would be resolved peacefully but warned of negative consequences if too much pressure is imposed on Indian authorities.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“If they feel threatened amid immense pressure, fear remains that they may drop us from the programme under which they are giving visas to take people legally. We hope there will be a peaceful solution,” he told reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after a delegation of Italian visa seekers met him at his office.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The adviser said he conveyed this message to the delegation members citing the likely impacts of programmes like processions, rallies and cordoning office physically. “It is their sovereign right whether they will issue a visa or not. We can’t say why you didn’t give the visa. This can’t be asked,” Hossain said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He said the government knew the visa seekers' positions and they tried to convey to them what the government is doing and what they can do to expedite the process.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The foreign adviser said around 20,000 cases got stuck for long as the progress is slow and the government is urging to clear those cases by December this year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On September 9, amid visa seekers' peaceful demonstration demanding quick delivery of passports with visas, the Italian Embassy in Dhaka said applicants were warned against submitting forged or false documents.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Italian Embassy said they are committed to working with Bangladesh authorities and in partnership with the European Union (EU) for actively preventing irregular flows and promoting legal pathways.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A bilateral agreement has been proposed to further improve collaboration in migration and mobility issues, which they hope will soon be finalised.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Embassy assured of its commitment to increasing the output of processed applications and presented some initiatives undertaken to that end with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome, including the creation of a dedicated taskforce.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Applicants were reassured that their ‘nulla osta’ will not expire once they have lodged the application or requested an appointment to do so. The nulla osta is the document issued by Italian immigration authorities which authorises a non-EU national to apply for a work visa at the Italian embassy/consulate in their country of residence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">During the meeting, the Embassy provided legal, technical and logistic explanations for the existing delays in the processing of working visas to Italy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The visa seekers also wanted to meet Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus to place their demands for addressing the issue.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Corruption and the production of false or forged documents or statements are serious crimes under both the Italian and Bangladeshi laws, which the Italian Embassy is committed to contrast together with the concerned Bangladeshi authorities, said the Embassy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>