Nepali workers going to the UAE for foreign employment have to pay a new fee in the name of police report verification. Before the Gen-G movement, a police report was not mandatory for going to the UAE.
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The fee charged for Nepal's 'police report verification', which is required to obtain a UAE visa, has been in dispute. For police report verification, documents have to be submitted to the UAE Embassy in Kathmandu through the VFS (Visa Facilitation Service) in Thamel.
For this, a fee of 353 dirhams (approximately Rs 13,800) has to be paid at VFS.
Nepali workers going to the UAE for foreign employment have had to pay a new fee in the name of police report verification. Before the Gen-G movement, a police report was not mandatory to go to the UAE. The Nepal Foreign Employment Entrepreneurs Association has demanded that the fee prescribed for police report verification be removed. The association has drawn the attention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security.
Manpower entrepreneurs sending workers to the UAE have drawn attention to the association's initiative on Sunday, saying that it is not sufficient. They have said that the fee charged for verification is higher than the standards set by the government. The government has adopted a policy that manpower companies can only charge Rs 10,000 as service fee from workers going to the UAE.
The association has formed a task force under the leadership of First Vice President Sujit Kumar Shrestha to communicate with the concerned parties and take initiatives to remove the fee. According to Shrestha, the fee has been set in a way that burdens the workers, contrary to the labor agreement between the UAE and Nepal. ‘We are preparing to discuss this issue with the UAE ambassador,’ said Shrestha. ‘There is a labor agreement between Nepal and the UAE on the employer-pay model. Due to its non-implementation, all the financial burden is falling on the workers.’
After the Gen-G movement, the UAE had temporarily stopped issuing visit and work visas for Nepalis. Visas have started being issued again after the policy of making police reports mandatory was implemented. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that it is studying passport verification and the fees associated with it.
Businessmen have urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take the initiative, demanding that the UAE recognize police reports that have been verified by the Nepali consular department. ‘Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other countries do not have to go to the embassy again after they have been verified by the consular department,’ said Shrestha. ‘Having to do it through VFS has put a financial burden on the workers.’
Earlier in 2018, the UAE had entrusted Kathmandu-based Yakka Travel and Tours and City Express Travel with the task of collecting applications for police report verification. At that time, the additional financial burden on the workers was about 4,400 rupees. The provision was removed after protests. The UAE embassy has not commented on the new fee.
About 40 percent of the total number of people who received work permits from the Department of Foreign Employment go to the UAE. In the fiscal year 2081/82, 211,148 people received work permits to go to the UAE. This number is again excluding work permits.
