Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
Claim
Sandeep Lamichhane ready to fly to the US after the US Embassy granted visa to him.
Fact
No, the US Embassy has not granted a visa to Lamichhane as of May 27.
At a time when Nepali cricket fans have been let down by the news of the US Embassy denying visa to cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane, a video claiming that the US Embassy has granted visa to the star Nepali cricketer is going viral on TikTok.
Earlier on May 22, the US Embassy in Kathmandu denied visa to Sandeep Lamichhane dealing a blow to the star cricketer’s prospects of making it to the T20 World Cup 2024 to be played in the USA and the West Indies from June 1 to 29. Nepali cricket fans were waiting with bated breath for him to be considered for Nepal’s squad after he was acquitted of rape charges by the Patan High Court.
Against this backdrop, TikTok user @jiteshji85 posted a video carrying a photo of cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane posing for a shot at Kathmandu Airport. Text superimposed on the video reads, “Breaking News: Finally the United States Embassy granted visa to Sandeep Lamichhane making way for him to play the T20 World Cup. It feels like winning the world cup itself.”
The video posted on May 25 has garnered 5203 likes, 39 users have shared it and 104 people have commented until the time of publishing this article.
The archived version of the TikTok video can be seen here.
Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the veracity of the claim made in the viral video, Newschecker checked for the latest news regarding the initiatives to grant US visa to Sandeep Lamichhane and found an article, dated May 28, 2024, published on Ratopati online. The article noted that cricketer Lamichhane’s process to get a US visa won’t make progress on Monday (May 27) as it is a public holiday at the Embassy on the occasion of Memorial Day.
We, then, took a key frame from the viral video and conducted a reverse search on the image depicting Sandeep Lamichhane. The search led us to several articles (see here, here) carrying the same image, indicating that the photo was captured in July 2023 before Sandeep Lamichhane’s departure to Canada to play Global T20.
Further, we found another article published on Nepal Khabar online. The article dated May 28 reported that members of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) including cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane held a meeting with Foreign Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha regarding the visa procedure of Sandeep Lamichhane. The article quoted CAN President Chatur Bahadur Chand that Foreign Minister Shrestha has assured them to take initiatives to grant a visa to Lamichhane.
Thus, our findings clearly show that the US Embassy has not granted visa to Sandeep Lamichhane as of writing this article.
Conclusion
No, the US Embassy in Kathmandu has not granted a visa to cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane till the time of writing this article. Thel video is misleading.
Result: False
Sources
Rato Pati, May 27, 2024
Nepal Khabar, May 27, 2024
Nepal News
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Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
