The government says that there are more illegal Nepali migrant workers in Saudi Arabia than expected earlier. The Ministry of Labour and Employment found about 80,000 Nepalis living illegally during the secretary level visit last month.

“It is astonishing. We hardly believed it at first,” said director general of the Department of Foreign Employment Purna Chandra Bhattarai. “About 600,000 Nepalis are working in Saudi Arabia and of them, 80,000 are in an illegal status,” Bhattarai said, adding that problems of such workers have been increasing by the day. 

According to Saudi law, once migrant workers leave their initial employers they become illegal. Therefore, the secretary level visit has requested the Saudi government to provide a one-time amnesty to such workers.

“Amnesty for our workers was our major concern during the visit,” he explained. The team has highlighted undocumented domestic workers as another major problem in Saudi Arabia. “Their number is also large,” he said.

The department’s data showed about 746 Nepali women had joined Saudi jobs since 2007-08, but independents estimate the number to be in thousands. 

A UN Women study in 2010 revealed about 63,000 Nepali women migrant workers in the destination. “Most of them are involved in household jobs,” the study had reported. 

A majority of the workers do not have a job according to the contract letter issued to them back home. It is also very difficult for illegal workers to return home. “Getting an exit visa is extremely difficult,” he said, explaining the condition. 

The team plans to suggest the government to strengthen orientation and training, and make outsourcing agencies accountable. It will also ask the government to direct diplomatic missions to explore jobs with competitive advantage. 

Similarly, The Department of Foreign Employment is building a network among diplomatic missions to control fraud that is rampant in the foreign employment sector in Nepal and Saudi Arabia. The strategy will be applied in other countries too, he said.