Service seekers still complain that they continue to face trouble to receive labour permit from the Foreign Employment Office, Tahachal. They have to spend hours, if not days, in queue to get it.

Milan Nepali said he was standing in a serpentine queue outside the Foreign Employment Office, Tahachal from 4:00 am Thursday morning. He entered the office at 9 am after its gate opened. Nepali had to visit the office for eight days to get his labour permit to fly to Malta as a migrant worker.

“It took me eight days to get my work done as the office said the documents were not enough, and only today I am going to get it,” Nepali told this reporter.

Not only Nepali, others had also gone through similar ordeals. Many of them were seen preparing documents so that they did not have to spend more days in Kathmandu to get the labour permit.
As this scribe reached the office at 9:45, dozens of service seekers, mostly from outside the Kathmandu Valley, were already in queues before different windows and rows waiting for the arrival of the employees.

A few service seekers were also found confused as to in front of which windows they should stand for getting their work done.

Some of the service seekers were seeking help at the help desk. But it was not easy to find and reach the help desk.

After failing to find the help desk, some service seekers reached the office chief Devendra Karki to share their problems.

Many said they visited the office chief after they were told that they were standing in the wrong queue.

There was no public notice for the visitors regarding the documents they should come up with to receive the labour permit.

Documentation procedures vary from countries to countries as per the demand and work classifications.

Nepali said that due to lack of proper information regarding the required documents, he wasted eight days to get the permit.

The service seekers have to visit the office for many days to take the labour permit for re-entry as per the new provision which requires submission of their old passports showing the visa and new job agreements.

No middleman

Bijaya Yadav of Dhanusha, who has spent three years each in Qatar United Arab Emirates (UAE) as migrant workers, shared that he faced no trouble to receive work permit this time.
In the past, all works used to complete in a day when he paid around Rs. 3000-Rs.4000 to the agents who filled up the firms, he said, “The agreement signed between the employer companies and the workers is required which was not with us. We have to request the company to send agreement to the department’s email. I am waiting the email of the

company for the last two days which is yet to receive.”
Kamal Bahadur Bastakoti said that no agent asked him to help him complete his work this time.
“I do not see any agent in the office. Two years ago, he received work permit from the office through the agent by paying Rs. 4,000 to him,” he said.

Similarly, Binod Adhikari, who returned to Nepal three times in nine years from Saudi Arabia, said that they were unaware about the new regulations about the required documents for work permit.
“We don’t know about the new rules. When we submit documents by spending three-four hours in queue, the officers ask us to produce the agreement paper. I just requested the company to send me the agreement paper through the phone call. I am waiting for the paper which will come. I am in tension as my flight is scheduled for 2:00 PM Friday,” he said.

If the office has established the information desk on the office premises, no service seeker would face problems to get work permit.
E-token from December 1st

Office Chief Karki admitted that the service seekers were facing problems regarding documentation for labour permit.

“As per the provision of the amended regulations to require the old visa-passport and labour agreement between the employers and the employees has become a challenge for the service seekers for re-entry. Most of the people have not had old visa-passport and labour agreement documents. But we cannot give labour permit without having these documents,” he said.
Considering the problems of service seekers due to this provision, the office has already informed the Ministry about the problems and the need for amending the provision so that the migrant workers get permit without facing hassles.

He claimed that the service seekers who had come up with all required documents could get the permit in a day.

“We are going to re-implement the e-token system to make the service sound and provide work permit to the workers at the earliest. E-token system will come into effect from December 1st as all preparations have been completed,” he said.

As per the e-token system, the people can choose the places and date to take work permit as the system will come into effect in all labour offices of all seven provinces, he said.

Likewise, he said that they were preparing to put in display the information on all required documents in the notice board for the specific countries and work classification which will help end the present situation to spend more days for work permit.

Published on: 29 November 2019 | The Rising Nepal