As the country’s foreign employment sector grapples with multiple problems, the departure of migrant workers in last fiscal year has declined by 2.90 percent.

 

The workers’ departure took a beating, especially in the last quarter of 2014-15 due to the April 25 quake and row over the newly introduced free visa and ticket provision.

 

There was a whopping 34.11 percent decline in the departure of outbound workers in the last quarter (Mid-April to Mid-July) compare to the third quarter.

 

A total of 95,937 individuals acquired work permit for overseas jobs during this period against 145,611 in the third quarter.

 

The Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) said that 512,887 Nepali workers left the country for overseas jobs in the fiscal year 2014-15 as compared to 528,232 in 2013-14.

 

While departures to Oman, Israel and Afghanistan surged, major work destinations such as Malaysia and Qatar—the first and second largest labour destinations that absorb almost half of Nepal’s migrant population—received slightly fewer workers in the last fiscal compared to the preceding year.

 

Malaysia hired 202,828 in the last fiscal, down from 208,120 in 2013-14, while 124,368 Nepali workers headed for Qatar jobs in 2014-15 as against 126,549 the previous year.

 

The decrease was expected in the aftermath of a magnitude-7.8 earthquake that killed nearly 9,000 people, affecting tens of thousands of families in central and western Nepal, where outmigration culture is high,  according to experts. Other factors, including long-standing row over the newly introduced free visa and ticket provision and blanket ban of Nepali housemaid, are said to have contributed to the decline.

 

“The decline is natural in the wake of historic crisis that befell the country. Thousands of people who were on the verge of leaving for overseas jobs had to drop the idea following the earthquake,” said DoFE spokesperson Badri Karki.

 

He blamed the recent 18-day strike by the recruiting agencies was another factor contributing to the decline. Recruiting agencies pointed to other reasons for the slowdown in workers’ departures apart from the April 25 earthquake and disruption of foreign employment service.

 

Malaysia and Qatar, for instance, issued fewer demands for Nepali migrant workers in the given period due to agreements to take workers from other labour exporting countries. Malaysia, for example, has signed an agreement to hire 1.5 million workers from Bangladesh in the next three years.

 

The agencies have not been able to properly utilise the demands received from major labour destinations.

 

“Even those demands could not be properly utilised after details of pre-approval did not match with that provided for visa. As a result, thousands of workers were denied work permit,” said Bal Bahadur Tamang, former chairperson of Nepal the Association of Foreign Employment Agencies.

 

The impact of the mandatory free visa and ticket provision on the hiring of Nepali workers in seven work destinations would be visible only after six months, according to the agencies.

 

In a notable shift in female migration trend, increasing numbers of Nepali women are taking on industrial jobs following a year-long blanket ban on women joining domestic jobs.

 

Departures in FY 2014-15

1st quarter    129,410

2nd quarter    141,929

3rd quarter    145,611

Last quarter    95,937

Total    512887