The government banned sending workers to Europe about three years ago.
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Stakeholders have expressed concern that human trafficking has increased due to the closure of the process of sending Nepali workers to Europe institutionally (through manpower companies). The government had banned sending workers to Europe about three years ago.
Based on a letter sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on March 8, 2023, Nepali embassies in Europe have stopped verifying institutional demand letters. They claim that Nepali workers are going to Europe through unregistered agents with personal labor permits as the work of sending workers institutionally has been stopped. They say that Nepali workers who reach Europe in this way are facing problems including financial exploitation and fraud.
Nepali embassies in Europe, known as attractive and emerging destinations for employment, are sending Nepali workers to Europe by charging exorbitant amounts of money through manpower, educational consultants, and personal basis after not verifying demand letters. The number of Nepali workers going to Europe with personal labor permits, even if they do not go institutionally, is increasing every year.
According to the Department of Foreign Employment, 35,000 Nepalis have gone to Europe through personal access (agents) in the last fiscal year alone. Of these, the highest number went to Romania with 21,000, Croatia with 11,000, Portugal with 1,900, Slovenia with 1,100, and Austria with 1,000. Apart from the department's figures, businessmen claim that the number of Nepali workers going to Europe via third countries is even higher.
According to the department, when institutional demand letter verification is closed, Nepali workers have to bear high costs trying to go to Europe and some have even fallen into human trafficking traps. According to Kamal Bhattarai, Director General of the department, when institutional channels are closed, Nepali workers trying to go to Europe through illegal agents and middlemen are falling prey to fraud, fake documents and exploitation.
'When formal and institutional channels are closed, brokers are cheating by saying that it will cost 7 to 1.5 million rupees to go to Europe. The highest number of fraud complaints in the department are related to Europe,' said Bhattarai, Director General of the department.
Only after the institutional demand letter is verified by the embassy in accordance with the Foreign Employment Act 2064, the Department of Foreign Employment will be allowed to interview manpower companies on behalf of employers and select workers. Section 15 (1) (f) of the Foreign Employment Act 2064 and the amended Act 2075 states that ‘it is mandatory to submit a certified copy of the request letter and authorization from the Nepali diplomatic mission of the destination country’.
Nepali embassies in Europe are of the view that if an employer in a co-certifying country requests Nepali workers, there should be a budget for on-site inspection, that the request letter cannot be certified within 15 days, and that the work permit must be issued in the same country, that the work must be done in that country, and that the process of certification will be extended only if it is ensured that the refugees will not be taken. The embassies say that they have taken such a stance because the number of undocumented and stranded Nepalis in Europe is increasing.
Following the embassies’ stance, the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security has already amended the procedure related to the verification of the European request letter and sent it to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for approval. Similarly, a budget of Rs 200,000 has been allocated from the welfare fund of the manpower company in the department for on-site inspection.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the other hand, has stated that it is coordinating with the Ministry of Labor regarding the procedure. ‘The foreign country has not stopped the process of verifying the demand letters by making a decision. This issue should be resolved together. The online system of the Department of Consular Services and the Department of Foreign Employment should be integrated,’ said Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lok Bahadur Poudel Chhetri, ‘How can we work smoothly? We should move forward by developing technology so that problems that may arise later can be resolved.’
Foreign employment entrepreneurs have said that the lack of verification of demand letters is very serious and a matter of investigation. The Progressive Foreign Employment Entrepreneurs Forum has demanded that the government immediately start verifying demand letters to send workers to emerging and safe destinations in an easy manner.
‘It is necessary to ensure safe, transparent and low-cost foreign employment for workers,’ said Janak Rawal, chairman of the Progressive Foreign Employment Entrepreneurs Forum. Rawal said that non-entrepreneurs have been encouraged by stopping entrepreneurs (manpower companies) who had obtained licenses by depositing up to Rs 60 million.
‘We are a legal entity that can send workers safely by depositing between Rs 20 and 60 million. "However, when these same businessmen were stopped from sending workers to emerging destinations, the tax revenue received by the state decreased. The cost paid by workers became uncontrollable and expensive. Human trafficking increased," he said at a press conference held on Tuesday.
