Government suspends issuing new work permits for foreign employment

 The Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) has suspended issuing work permits physically to foreign employment seekers with effect from Friday, though online work permit issuance will continue with limited quota.

Issuing a press  note, the Foreign Employment Office said the the department has directed not to issue new work permits for foreign employment physically until further notice as the government has already suspended domestic and international flights. "Since the international flights have been suspended from Thursday, there will be no issuing of work permits physically.

However, the online access for renewal of the work permits will  continue, the department's press note reads.

Last year, the government suspended issuing work permits on March 12 after the government imposed the lockdown across the country. It reopened only after six months.

Manpower agencies threaten to launch protest

The outsourcers have threatened to protest as the government has failed to resume issuing work permits to Malaysia-bound Nepali workers.
The recruiting agencies have warned to stage protest, if the government does not start issuing Malaysian work permits within Tuesday. “The government is not serious towards resuming the permit for Nepali workers to Malaysia,” Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies said, adding that the association will start protest programmes from Wednesday.
Urging the government to immediately start issuing work permits to Malaysia, the association said it will start the protest by picketing at Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security claimed that a meeting of a joint technical team of both the governments of Nepal and Malaysia will soon sort out issues as the supply of Nepali workers to Malaysia has been halted since last May. After the government cracked down on Immigration Security Clearance and One Stop Centre that had been levying additional charges on Nepali migrants, the supply of Nepali migrant workers have halted.
The two governments also had inked a bilateral labour pact last October to resume the outflow of Nepali migrant workers to Malaysia but the delay in finalising the medical-related issues by both governments has made it difficult for the outsourcers to resume the outflow.

Pride and pains of labour immigration

Buoyed by the Maoist insurgency and growing unemployment, labour migration from Nepal has skyrocketed in recent times. The resulting remittance has become a major prop for the national economy. Despite September 1, the number of manpower agencies has also gone up. Despite many manpower agencies failing to comply with Foreign Employment Regulations and the National Labour Policy, the government has failed to bring them to book.
I don't blame only the government, says managing director of Sakura International Employment Consultancy Mahendra Kumar Rana. "Both manpower agencies and the government are responsible for the malpractices in this trade," he said, adding that in the absence of strict implementation of law, this sector is becoming vulnerable. The agency has which has sent more than 700 Nepali workers to Malaysia within the last one year. 
Deaths in foreign lands, reneging on contracts and facilities and arrests by immigration officials are some of the problems that Nepali immigrant workers face, another outsourcer adds.
Minister of state for labour and transport management Urba Datta Panta agrees. "Some of the problems occur due to lack workers credibility," he said, adding that it also depends on the honesty of manpower agencies. "Before sending workers abroad, agencies must explain all the rules and regulations, terms and conditions to the workers."
Some workers leave a company which is against the contract. Others try to overstay, which leads to problems, says Rana.
We have always clarified the terms and conditions to workers before sending them abroad, he says, adding that the result is that they have not received any complaint yet.
Speaking on the issue of bipartite agreements between Nepal and other countries on labour issues, the minister says that it is indeed needed. But other countries must also show a willingness, he says, adding that Nepal is a signatory of the UN agency IOM, that takes care of migrant workers world-wide. "Labour migration is a privately-organised affair in Nepal."
This is the age of privatisation. So, the private sector must come forward. But it must be professional, Pant adds.
Intense competition between the manpower agencies has taken an unprofessional turn. In order to win business, some agencies send workers on very low wages, accepts Rana.
A report on "Nepal's Dependence on Exporting Labour" by professor of development studies at the University of East Anglia David Seddon, reads that one of the major exports of Nepal is labour, and most rural households now depend on at least one member's earnings from employment away from home and often from abroad.
Malaysia tops the list of most favoured labour destination followed by Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Seddon also notes in the report that government's failure in developing a coherent labour export policy. Although this tiny land-locked Himalayan Kingdom recognises both the contribution remittances make to the national accounts and the increasing demand for Nepali workers abroad, the government is struggling to keep up with these trends, he adds.
The government can not ignore the importance of a sector that fetches around Rs 100 billion remittances annually.
With the approval of the Labour Act of 1985, Nepal officially recognised the value of foreign labour migration.