It will be easy to get the facilities provided by the government to the workers after obtaining the labor permit by connecting to the foreign employment management information system by giving the labor permit through the Nepali embassy.
The government has started to give legitimacy to nearly 5 lakh Nepali workers working in major employment destinations without labor permits. The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has started to link the Foreign Employment Management Information System (FEMIS) to the Foreign Employment Management Information System (FEMIS) by granting labor approval through the Nepali Embassy.
Biometric work permits have already been issued at the Nepalese embassies in Oman and UAE. This system has opened the way to continue working without having to come to Nepal to get a work permit. Only after taking the worker's biometrics, the labor approval process proceeds. Earlier, as the biometric technology was not installed in the embassy, the laborers who got the work permit for the first time had to come to Nepal.
Labor Minister Sharatsingh Bhandari said that all those who went for foreign employment did not get work permits. Some workers have reached the destination country through visit visa. It is necessary to bring them under the scope of labor administration and document them by giving labor approval, he said. Bhandari said that workers who do not come within the scope of labor approval have to be deprived of the facilities they get from the Foreign Employment Board and the Social Security Fund due to difficulties in traveling to Nepal.
'If they have a work visa in the country where they are employed, we cannot stop them without giving them a work permit,' he said, 'this creates another complication for Nepalis working abroad. Therefore, workers who have obtained legal status in the destination country cannot be considered illegal in our government documents.' In UAE alone, about 250,000 people are outside Nepal's labor administration. Similarly, in Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar, more than 100,000 Nepali workers have not received work permits. Similarly, it is mentioned in the report of the embassies that the number of workers in Malaysia and Europe who have not obtained work permit or who have expired work permit is at least 150,000.
Tej Bahadur Chhetri, Nepal's ambassador to the UAE, said that once the online labor approval service is available from the embassy, it will be easy to get the facilities provided by the Nepalese government to the workers. "The biggest problem in the UAE is those who come to look for work through a visit visa. It is very difficult to send the dead body if a worker who came on a visit visa dies. The Foreign Employment Board does not bear the cost of sending the body," he said. "It will be easy for everyone to get government benefits as soon as they come within the scope of labor."
According to Ambassador Chhetri, despite the limited manpower and resources available at the embassy, work permits have been started. In case of the death of a worker who has received a work permit, there is a provision to get 10 lakh rupees from the Foreign Employment Board and 15 lakh rupees from the insurance company for the dependent family. The government has also included workers who have gone abroad for social security. Workers who do not have a work permit should be deprived of benefits from the social security fund and share trading. Also, it is not possible to take a grant loan from the bank.
President of Nepal Association-NRNA NCC UAE Bikas Shahi said that Nepali workers will be greatly relieved by the arrangement of getting work permits from the embassy. "There is a trend of openly advertising through social media in the name of attractive employment and charging high fees and getting stuck in the UAE," he said, "It is difficult to take the dead body to Nepal if a Nepali who has come to visit visa and is employed in the UAE without obtaining a work permit and whose documents have expired for any reason dies. They will come under the law as soon as they are legalized. Support will be provided from the welfare fund.'
According to the Ministry of Labour, work permits have been issued from the embassy to those working on a visit visa until October 14. However, it still does not include domestic female workers. The way is open for the Nepalese embassy to make a 'recommendation letter' to give work permit to domestic workers. When you come to Nepal on vacation with this recommendation letter, the Foreign Employment Department will grant you a labor permit.
In Kuwait and Oman alone, there are at least 50,000 female domestic workers without work permits. When labor approval is not given in terms of institutions, women go to work as domestic workers through the network of human traffickers. Dornath Aryal, the Nepali ambassador to Oman, said that the flow of domestic workers has not stopped. With good intentions, the parliamentary committee banned the sending of domestic workers. However, the trend has not stopped yet," Aryal said. "On the matter of domestic workers, a decision should be made as much as possible whether the higher officials should sit down and let the current situation remain or change the policy."
