The DoFE has already initiated the service on a trial basis, linking three foreign employment agencies to its database, and provided training to representatives of ten agencies on the functional aspects of the new system.

 

“Our work was stalled due to a lack of budget. But the Foreign Employment Promotion Board has agreed to allocate required funds so we hope to gradually expand the online service,” said DoFE Director General (DG) Purna Chandra Bhattarai. The new system is expected control financial irregularities and other anomalies in the foreign employment sector and decrease work pressure on officials.

 

“We have realised that person-to-person contact is the primary cause of petty bribery and other irregularities. With the online services, there will be a physical distance between the service provider and the service seeker, hopefully leading to a decline in existing anomalies,” said Bhattarai.

 

Out of around 2,000 service seekers who visit the department every day, most come through foreign employment agencies. There are 767 foreign employment agencies accredited to send workers overseas. Although most foreign employment agencies welcomed the new system, representatives of the Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA) accused the DoFE of monopolising the system by providing entry into the system to only one Internet Service Provider (ISP). They further said that the new system should come up with a mechanism to cross-check anomalies at various levels.

 

“The minister should be able to cross-check the secretary, the secretary should be able to check the DG, the DG should oversee directors and directors should check other officials. This chain of command could make overall transactions more effective,” 

said Bal Bahadur Tamang, chairman of the NAFEA. DG Bhattarai admitted that currently, only Subisu ISP users can connect to the system but assured that they would provide services to all other ISPs soon.The DoFE’s online transactions with foreign employment agencies is one of many initiatives aimed at developing an overall online system, envisioned by the government to link all stakeholders with the DoFE’s central database and vice-versa. While the department has already provided access to Nepali missions in major labour destinations, it plans to connect itself with the Department of Immigration, other Nepali missions abroad and orientation centres. The DoFE’s database includes workers’ personal details, pre-approval and final approval status, details of employment agencies and status of the returnees, among others.

 

After the online system was introduced, both the department and respective missions claimed that there has been a decline in the use of double contract letters—one fake and one genuine. Use of such fake contract letters is one of the main reasons why salaries, companies and the nature of work differ when workers reach their destination country for work.

 

In order to further strengthen its computerised database, the DoFE has also started providing training, arranging overseas visit for its officials and hiring foreign experts from other labour-rich countries like Sri Lanka which have adopted similar mechanisms.