According to the Nepali embassy in Malaysia, around 530 migrant workers returned to Nepal from January 2011 to February 2012, while the number was 190 between the same period in 2010/11. The embassy has been managing free travel tickets to Nepalis who are doing time in detention centres for various offenses including rape, murder and document forgery. 

 

Data compiled by an illegal migrant worker registration campaign estimates that there are around 33,000 Nepali working in the country illegally while more workers are languishing in detention centres.  Each person is required to pay Rs 500 before his or her departure to a Gulf country and the sum is deposited in the Foreign Employment Welfare Fund, meant for addressing the migrant workers’ woes.

 

 However, the embassy said only five people have been rescued from the country with the monetary help from the fund in the past one-and-a-half-years. A victim is required to submit an application to the Department of Foreign Employment, Foreign Employment Promotion Board and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get the fund. 

 

The victims complain that the process is taxing and the government is apathetic towards their problems.