Ending their 17-day long protest, foreign employment agencies on Sunday resumed their services, finally agreeing to send aspirant migrant workers to seven major labor destinations at zero cost in line with the government's recent decision.

However, employment agencies have asked the government to implement "zero cost" for sending workers to labor destinations through formation of a high-level committee.
The Ministry of Labor and Employment (MoLE) had decided to implement "free visa free ticket" for sending migrant workers to countries including Malaysia, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman and Kuwait on July 6.

As per the new rule, an outbound migrant worker need only pay up to Rs 17,000, including medical fee, insurance, welfare deposit and service charge, to recruitment agencies.

General Secretary of Nepal Association of Federation of Employment Agencies (NAFEA) Rohan Gurung told Republica that they have agreed to form a high-level committee to study feasibility of the zero cost system.

"We resumed our services after the government agreed to include NAFEA representatives on the committee. The committee will submit its report within three months," said Gurung. He added they will follow minimum cost recruitment until the committee submits its report.

"Committee members will now visit seven destination countries and hold meetings with the concerned authorities. We are never against the zero cost system," informed Gurung.

Along with formation of the 11-member committee, the MoLE and NAFEA inked a 30-point agreement that includes probing the legality of VLN Nepal, a company which processes visa applications for Malaysia.

A highly-placed source at DoFE told Republica that the NAFEA was forced to resume services as the government refused to backtrack on its decision. "Recruiting agencies even bargained for an increase of Rs 5,000 in service charge in the course of negotiations. They, however, made a safe landing by agreeing to resume their services," said the source.

The Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) also issued pre-permission to 77 job demands and final approval to more than 1,400 jobs.

Chief of Kathmandu office of DoFE Bishwa Prakash Subedi remarked that effective implementation of free visa and free ticket might take up to two weeks.

"Employment agencies might take time as they need to directly deal with employers instead of brokers and this might take up to two weeks," Subedi said.

He even urged aspirant migrant workers to remain aware of "zero cost" for employment in seven labor destinations. "Migrant workers can file complaints at DoFE if they are charged more than the stipulated amount by employment agencies for employment in the aforementioned seven labor destinations," he said.

Published on: 27 July 2015 | Republica