Saudi Arabia– one of major job market for Nepali– has decided to accept handwritten passport to issue work visa. The destination is hiring around 6,500 Nepalis per months in current fiscal year.

Nepali embassy in the destination has informed us about the development, said Sarita Giri, Minister for Labour and Transport Management. “Saudi Arabia has agreed to accept handwritten passport till 2015,” she said.

According to International Civil Aviation Organisation, handwritten passport issued before 2010 will be valid until 24 November 2015. The government is issuing Machine Readable Passport (MRP) since last year.

Saudi Arabia has stopped issuing work visa to Nepali workers in handwritten passport from mid-November and it had made wide impact in Nepalis job market.

Hiring from Saudi Arabia has fallen to 1,445 Nepalis in Mangsir (mid-November to mid-December) from 8,914 a month ago.

According to Department of Foreign Employment, about 400,000 Nepalis are working in the destination and 32,760 joined Saudi jobs in last five months.

The destination has hired just 587 woman migrant workers in last four years according to the department data. However, UN Women estimated about 63,000 women in Saudi Arabia in 2010.

Published on: 8 January 2012 | The Himalayan Times