by Hafizur Rahman
August 4, 2026
Rohingya residents in Sittwe Township say they are being prevented from travelling by air even after completing a newly introduced approval process, with airport authorities imposing additional requirements that were never officially announced.
On July 22, the Sittwe District General Administration Department held a meeting with Camp Management Committees from Rohingya displacement camps and village administrators across the township. Officials outlined a new procedure for Rohingya holding National Registration Cards or National Verification Cards who wished to fly to Yangon, Mandalay, or other cities.
Under the announced procedure, applicants must first obtain a recommendation letter from their village leader or Camp Management Committee chairperson. They must also submit copies of their NRC or NVC, household registration list, and a passport-size photograph.
The documents must then receive endorsements from the relevant village administrator, Sittwe Township Police Station No. 1, the township administrator, and the district administrator. Applicants must finally attend an interview and undergo document verification by the Immigration Department.
Local authorities began enforcing the procedure during the final week of July.
However, Rohingya residents told Rohingya Khobor that completing every officially announced step did not guarantee permission to travel. At the airport, some passengers were reportedly presented with additional conditions that had not been mentioned during the July 22 meeting.
“I followed every instruction and collected all the required documents, but the airport authorities still refused to let me travel,” one Rohingya man told Rohingya Khobor. “They asked for another letter that was never mentioned in the official rules.”
According to local sources, a Rohingya passenger was stopped at Sittwe Airport on July 29 because he did not have a recommendation letter from a military battalion stationed near Manzi Junction in Sittwe Township.
The requirement for military approval had not been included in the procedure announced by the General Administration Department.
“We keep following the new rules, but every time we reach the airport, they create another condition,” another Rohingya resident said. “It feels as though they do not want us to travel at all.”
Two more Rohingya men were reportedly prevented from boarding flights on July 31. Airport officials allegedly told them that their applications must include photographs taken by the authorities showing each applicant standing in front of his home in an internally displaced persons’ camp or village.
The men had already completed the previously announced approval process but were turned away because they did not possess the additional photographs.
“These extra demands are being imposed only on Rohingya,” a community member said. “Even when we obtain all the official documents, new requirements appear without any notice.”
Residents said the constantly changing conditions force applicants to spend additional time and money collecting documents, securing recommendations, and travelling between administrative offices, without knowing whether they will ultimately be allowed to board their flights.
The restrictions also expose Rohingya travellers to arbitrary decisions by police, immigration officials, military personnel, and local administrators at multiple stages of the process.
Rohingya in Sittwe have faced severe restrictions on their freedom of movement since communal violence and mass displacement in 2012. Many remain confined to displacement camps and segregated villages, where access to education, healthcare, employment, markets, and travel outside the township is tightly controlled.
Although NRC and NVC holders possess documents issued or recognised by Myanmar authorities, Rohingya residents say the documents do not protect them from discriminatory travel restrictions.
The National Verification Card system is also widely rejected by Rohingya because it does not recognise them as citizens or acknowledge their Rohingya identity. Instead, the verification process has frequently treated them as people required to prove that they qualify for citizenship in their own country.
The latest airport incidents indicate that the newly announced travel procedure has not created a predictable or transparent system. Instead, Rohingya passengers remain subject to unannounced demands and discretionary decisions that can prevent them from travelling even after they have met all stated requirements.
Residents called on the authorities to publish a clear and complete travel procedure, end discriminatory requirements, and ensure that Rohingya are not arbitrarily prevented from travelling after receiving official approval.
