Nepali joining foreign jobs dropped to 18,784 in Mangsir as the government adopted tough policy to grant work permit for Qatar bound workers and Saudi Arabia rejects to issue work visa in handwritten passport.

Significant fall in demand of Nepali workers witnessed in major job markets of Gulf region– Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – in Mangsir (mod-November to mid-December). According to Department of Foreign Employment, the top hiring country hired just 3,392 workers followed by UAE (3,845) and Saudi Arabia (1,493). The department had stopped issuing work permit to Qatar those have not minimum wage requirements set by Nepal government from mid-November. Minimum wage for unskilled Nepali workers is around Rs 16,000. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia had stopped issuing visa in handwritten passport.

About 47,176 Nepali had joined foreign job in Kartik (mid-October to mid-November)– the record high foreign jobs in a month. Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE had hired 12,885, 8,914 and 9,535 Nepali workers respectively.

Consequently, Malaysia– the second preferred destination one month ago– topped in popular destination ladder hiring 7,414 Nepalis in Mangsir. The destination had just started issuing new demands to Nepali workers after an interval of six months.

Malaysia had stopped recruiting foreign workers in March to sweep up illegal foreign workers.

According to the department, Gulf countries– Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and Oman– hired 1,826, 349, 19 and 155 Nepalis in Mangsir respectively. Fall in individual contract noticed in the months. Only 3,713 Nepalis joined foreign jobs through their own initiation.

About 1,558 Nepali women joined foreign jobs in Mangsir. Kuwait was top hiring country with 957 domestic helps.

Published on: 29 December 2011 | The Himalayan Times