The Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) on Wednesday said it has requested the prime minister and the foreign ministry to take initiatives to help Sandeep Lamichhane get a US visa.
The Embassy of the United States of America in Nepal had denied visa to Lamichhane, who is preparing to travel to the country and the West Indies to participate in the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
Lamichhane took to social media to to say his visa application had been rejected.
“And the US Embassy, Nepal did it again like they did back in 2019, they denied my visa for the T20 World Cup happening in the US and the West Indies. Unfortunate. I am sorry to all the well wishers of Nepal Cricket,” Lamichhane wrote.
Lamichhane was cleared to participate in domestic and international cricket tournaments as the country’s cricket governing body lifted his suspension, hours after the Patan High Court acquited him of rape conviction by a district court.
CAN had suspended Lamichhane from both domestic and international cricket after initially being found guilty of raping a girl.
The Kathmandu District Court on December 29, 2023 convicted Lamichhane of raping a girl and sentenced him to eight years in prison on January 11.
He was cleared to play following the verdict.
“We have already requested the prime minister, the foreign ministry and other stakeholders to take initiatives in getting Lamichhane a visa for the US,” Chatur Bahadur Chand, the CAN president, told the Post.
“The visa was rejected despite the application being attached with the high court’s order and letters from the International Cricket Council and CAN,” Chand added.
“It is a matter of concern for the country. But we are hopeful he will get a visa.”
The US Embassy said they could not comment on individual visa cases.
“The US Embassy is extremely excited to have Nepal’s men’s national cricket team, the Rhinos, participating in the T20 World Cup in the United States and, in fact, a few Embassy officials met with them a few weeks ago to appreciate and encourage them before they headed out. We are wishing the entire team the best in the coming games,” the US Embassy said.
“US Embassy Kathmandu and other US consular posts around the world have made a concerted effort to ensure that members of national cricket teams who qualify for the appropriate visa class are able to travel in time to compete in the World Cup.
“We cannot comment on individual visa cases as visa records are confidential under US law.”
CAN has reached out to the ICC to include Lamichhane in Nepal’s T20 World Cup squad.
Lamichhane has been training regularly at the TU Cricket Ground.
It is not the first time the US has denied him a visa.
Lamichhane’s visa application was rejected by the US in 2019 for the Caribbean Premier League. He had taken the issue to Twitter (now X) to express his dissatisfaction over the visa denial. However, a few hours after his post, the embassy had called Lamichhane and given him a visa.
Nepal had already announced their provisional 15-man squad for the World Cup when Lamichhane’s rape conviction was quashed.
The Nepali team are already in the West Indies and have been training in St Vincent.
ICC allows all 20 participating teams of the global showpiece to make changes and submit their final squad until May 25.
The Rhinos played a three-match T20 practice series against Windwards Volcanoes, which they won 2-1.
They will play warm-up matches against Canada and the US on May 27 and May 30 before launching their World Cup campaign against the Netherlands on June 4.
Nepal are making their second appearance at a cricket World Cup—their first since World T20 in Bangladesh in 2014.
