In a shocking revelation, a substantial number of migrant workers returning to Nepal are found to be carrying Machine Readable Passports (MRPs) that have been forged or tampered with. In some cases, the returnee migrants are not even aware that they are carrying such dubious documents.

 

The migrant workers, who are mostly returnees from Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, acquire such forged documents through the payment of large chunks of money to agents in the destination countries. Many of them were arrested upon landing at Tribhuwan International Airport (TIA) and are being detained at the Department of Immigration (DoI).

 

In a recent case, Dip Narayan Shah, a 21-year-old returnee worker from Malaysia, was arrested at TIA in possession of a fake passport of this type. The MRP Shah was carrying originally belonged to one Ram Lal Das Tatma. Shah is completely ignorant about Tatma.

 

During preliminary investigations at DoI, Shah said that he paid 3,000 ringgit (around Rs. 76,000) to an agent to get him the passport so he could return to Nepal. He claimed that when he went to Malaysia 14 months ago to work at a mobile company he was carrying his own passport but he didn't have this original document when returning home.

 

Kedar Neupane, director general at DoI, said that they are stunned by this new phenomenon in passport forgery. "This new trend seen in MRP forgery is very surprising. We are coordinating with Nepal Police and the Passport Department to tackle it," he said.

 

In most forgery cases, the passports are forged by sticking on a sheet of paper that is similar to the front page of the original passport. However, the entire identity of the original passport holder is changed and the new document is given to another person.

 

In most of the destination countries, including Saudi Arabai and Malaysia, which are respectively the second and third largest destination countries for Nepali migrant workers, the status of the worker becomes illegal if he leaves his job before the contract ends, and the passport is withheld by the employer. The worker's status also becomes illegal if he changes jobs without the employer's permission.

 

Immigration Officers at DoI said they have recorded 20 such cases in the last two weeks. Such migrant workers are said to be 'illegal' in the destination country and they seek a way to return to Nepal.

 

One of the DoI officers told Republica on condition of anonymity that agents in the destination countries buy up the passports of employees who have left their companies. Later, these passports are tampered with and sold at a higher price to migrant workers whose passports have been withheld by their employers , according to the the DoI officer..

 

Preliminary investigations at DoI show that the migrant workers whose status in the destination country has become illegal paid up to Rs. 80,000 for the dodgy travel documents.