The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has prepared to determine the minimum cost of labor for foreign employment. The service fee determined by the ministry is about to be provided without collateral from the bank.

Labor Minister Dol Prasad Aryal said that the minimum service fee is going to be determined and the file is moving forward as the workers who go for foreign employment are suffering more from the 10,000 rupees service fee set by the government. "Foreign employment professionals are collecting 2 trillion 1.6 billion rupees every year from citizens going abroad through non-banking channels," he said in the National Assembly on Friday. 

A worker usually has to pay three lakh rupees when he goes to work abroad. How much far-reaching study was done when the government decided to get free visa, free ticket or 10,000 rupees service fee? I don't want to debate on this issue', he said, 'but, due to the decision, it has become a practice for manpower professionals to collect the money themselves, middlemen collect the money, but when the citizens go abroad, they only give a receipt of 10,000. If they have to return from abroad due to suffering or for various reasons, there is a legal provision that they (workers) cannot get more than 10,000 by applying.' 

Minister Aryal also said that this is a very complicated and painful situation. He claims that when the ministry determines the minimum cost fee, it will be in the interest of the government, businessmen and labor. "We are discussing the issue of service charges after a very good study that we should create an environment where we have to pay a small amount," he said, "from which the government will receive billions of rupees in taxes." Businessmen will also earn money legitimately. And, Nepali citizens will not be cheated.'  He has not disclosed how much service fee is going to be determined by

. Labor spokesperson Gobind Rizal said that the service fee to be determined has reached the final stage. The Ministry of Labor is theoretically ready to determine the minimum cost fee. But We are in discussion about the amount,' he said. 

The Ministry of Labor is preparing to release the procedures related to service fee determination and workers going abroad to get unsecured loans from banks at once. "We have made a draft to issue an unsecured loan equal to the cost fee from the bank," said spokesperson Rizal, "we are also discussing with the banks for this."

The then Labor Minister Sharatsingh Bhandari had prepared to make a decision so that he would be able to receive a month's salary or a maximum of one lakh rupees as a service fee. But after the change of alliance, the file submitted to the Minister of Labor for the final decision was returned. On August 26 and 27, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Security, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Secretary, Secretary of Labor, Secretary of Home Affairs, Secretary of Foreign Affairs and 12 Nepalese Ambassadors and Consul Generals in the main destination countries held a meeting. There were three decisions regarding fee determination. 

'If the employer company provides the service fee, the licensee (manpower company) shall not charge any recruitment fee, in the case that the employer does not provide the service fee, the licensee shall be entitled to receive a maximum of 1 month's salary for the service fee, such service fee shall be more than 1 lakh rupees specified in the country. "The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security will determine the service fee that the licensee can charge," said the decision. In this way, it has been decided to develop a system to pay the service fee provided by the workers only through banking. In the labor agreement/memorandum made by Nepal with Jordan, Mauritius, Malaysia and UAE, the principle that the employer should bear the enrollment fee has been arranged.

In the bilateral labor agreement and understanding with other countries, there is no provision for the employer to bear the enrollment fee. Employers in contracting countries are not liable for labor service charges, visa and ticket fees. In 2007, the then Minister of State for Labor Tek Bahadur Gurung decided to get Rs 10,000 from workers going to the Gulf and Malaysia by implementing the 'Free Visa Free Ticket' policy. The effective implementation of that service fee has not been done. Since the beginning of the year, receipts of 10,000 have been withheld from the manpower company and collection of up to 3 lakhs is being done. 

Rajendra Bhandari, President of Nepal Foreign Employment Professionals Association, said that it is necessary to review the service fee policy. It can be sent to multinational companies at zero cost. Because they pay to send workers. But others don't. How can we businessmen pay money when the employer does not pay the money?' he said. 

Trade unions and stakeholders working on behalf of workers have been pressing not to revise the cost fee. Chiranjeevi Baral, president of the National Network for Safe Migration, claims that the Labor Minister is heading towards losing the ongoing achievements. The workers are not to blame for the implementation of the policy of free visa, free tickets and 10,000 service charges. This implementation is a failure of the government mechanism," he said. "Without monitoring and surveillance, workers are being cheated. The economic burden caused by the failure of the government mechanism is being tried to be placed on the workers. This is not acceptable.'