The Iraqi labor market is legally closed to Nepalis. The Department of Foreign Employment has placed general workers, including domestic workers, in Iraq on a list of 'prohibited destinations'.

The Iraqi labor market is legally closed to Nepalis. The Department of Foreign Employment has placed general workers, including domestic workers, in Iraq on the list of 'prohibited destinations'. Despite the labor ban, about 30,000 Nepalis are still working in Iraq and its autonomous state of Kurdistan. Most of them are women who have been working in Iraq as domestic workers or in the service sector for decades. They have not returned home for a decade due to fear of not being able to return to their workplace (Iraq) after coming to Nepal.

After 16 Bhadra 2061, 12 Nepalis were killed by an Iraqi rebel group, the Nepal government has not issued work permits citing security reasons. The Iraqis have repeatedly tried to lift the ban through various means. Nepal, however, has refused to send Nepalis to Iraq due to security reasons. 

Rita Shrestha, 44, from Dharan, has been working in a coffee restaurant in Sulaymani, Kurdistan, for 15 years. She arrived in Iraq in 2010. After working at home for the first two years, she became a 'cashier' in the restaurant. Her current salary is $1,200. ‘I went to Nepal once in 2015 after five years. After that, I never went again. It would have cost me two and a half lakhs to arrange a trip to Nepal, and I felt very sorry for paying that much,’ she said in a phone call to Kantipur, ‘There is no guarantee that I will get a trip again.’ She is staying in Iraq and sending her daughter to school in the UK. ‘People say Iraq is bad, but even living in Iraq feels like living in Nepal. The people here are like Nepalese people,’ she said.

Mina Magar, 35, from Taplejung, has also been working in Iraq as a domestic worker in the same house for 12 years. She completely rejects the idea that Iraq is ‘bad’. ‘If Iraq was bad, would I not have brought my sister’s daughter here?’ she says, ‘The family (employer) here treats her like a member of the family.’ Mina, who initially earned $300, now earns $700. Meena is also upset about not being able to return to Nepal. ‘My mother has become very weak and is also sick. I have brought her to Kathmandu because she needs regular treatment. Still, my mother is worried that she will never be able to see her daughter,’ Meena adds, ‘If I could return to Iraq after going to Nepal, I would take a month’s leave to visit my mother.’ Her husband has passed away and her only son is studying in the US.

Dhanumaya Waiba Lama, 39, from Ramechhap, has been in Sulaimani since 2015. She has not returned to Nepal even once since going to Iraq. Her visa is ‘freelancer’. That is, her employer (who provides the visa) has allowed her to work independently outside. She has been living in a rented room with her sister’s daughter. She was taken to Iraq by her own brother. Now she is earning $1,200 a month by working in 7 houses a week. ‘Everything here feels like her own. I live with my brother’s daughter. "Our family members also send us food and drinks," she said. "We are enjoying ourselves and earning money, but we are lost in our hearts because of the memories of our family and the fear of not being able to return." Dhanumaya's 18-year-old son is studying in Kathmandu, while her husband is in the village. Her husband does not have a regular income. "The government should have opened the way for us to come and go. We would not have been forced to stay here without being able to return home for 10-12 years." Passports are issued, work permits are not issued. After the 2072 earthquake, the trend of coming to Iraq for employment has continued. There is a greater majority of female workers than Nepali men. 75 percent are women and 25 percent are men. The passports of the Nepalis who have gone in this way are expiring. After the 2061 incident, a 'solution' was taken to solve the problem for the time being by making Iraq a prohibited destination for employment. In the next phase, in 2067 Magh, the Ministry of Labor decided to 'give legality to all Nepali workers in Iraq'. After the US adopted a policy of not providing employment to Nepalese in restricted situations without Nepal's permission, it adopted a policy of returning all Nepalis. After thousands of Nepalis were deprived of their jobs at once, the Ministry of Labor decided to grant work permits only to Nepalis in the US base camp. After that, no new decision has been made. 

The Ministry of Labor has adopted a policy of granting legality to those who had obtained visit visas until 14 Asho 081. With this policy, it has started granting legality to about 500,000 Nepali workers working in major employment destinations without work permits. However, Iraq is not included in this. Even though the government does not grant work permits, it is providing passport services. 

From 18 to 21 Jestha, the Nepali Embassy in Kuwait sent a mobile camp related to passport renewal and consular services to Jadriya, Baghdad. At that time, Nepalis who were unable to return home without a passport were also provided with one-way travel permits. Before that, the embassy had provided electronic passport renewal services to 548 people in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, from 19 to 24 Magh. 

Narayan Kumar, who works in Baghdad, said that thousands of Nepalis have been working in various provinces of Iraq for decades. ‘Some people’s passports were lost. Some people’s passports had expired. Since there was no Nepali embassy here, it was impossible to renew or make a new passport, which made it difficult for thousands of Nepalis to return home. But at the same time, the Nepalese embassy in Kuwait took a commendable initiative,’ he said, ‘The embassy provided the facility to renew or make a new passport for Nepalis who had lost or expired passports after coming to Iraq. But the Nepalese government does not issue work permits for employment, calling Iraq a conflict-ridden country.’

Jitman Gurung, a Gorkha resident working at the Babylon Hotel in Baghdad, said that due to the non-issuance of work permits, hundreds of Nepalis are forced to come here by spending lakhs of rupees to arrange their stay in third countries. In this hotel alone, 50 Nepalis work as security guards, waiters, cooks, etc. ‘If the government that can distribute passports in Iraq had also given work permits, would thousands of Nepalis have been saved from being cheated?’ he said. 

53-year-old Indira Lama from Bara said that she immediately went to the Nepal government’s office when she heard about Iraq. ‘We feel normal here. They have imposed a paper ban on our travel by citing an incident from two decades ago. They have blocked our way,’ she said. ‘If this ban were lifted, our way would be open.’ 

The last time in Bhadra 2081, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Iraqi Embassy in New Delhi, Najam Mirzan, met the Acting Ambassador in New Delhi, Surendra Thapa, and requested the lifting of the ban imposed on him. At that time, Iraq, which was devastated by conflict and war, had proposed to sign a labor agreement with Nepal to bring skilled manpower from Nepal, saying that it would now move forward with infrastructure development. 

The government, however, has not decided whether ‘Iraq falls or does not fall’ in the scope of foreign employment. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been saying that it should be viewed politically. ‘This should be viewed from a political perspective,’ said a foreign ministry official. 

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‘Iraq has become easier for foreign workers’ 

-Binod Shrestha (President, Non-Resident Nepali Association, Iraq) 

After the tragedy in 2061 when 12 Nepalis were killed, the Nepalese government banned entry into Iraq. But today’s Iraq is not like the past. Due to major changes in the security, political structure, employment situation and economic environment, Iraq, especially the Kurdistan region, has become a safe and attractive labor destination for thousands of workers from South Asia.

However, the Nepalese government continues to maintain the same old approach and has blocked legal entry into Iraq. The Iraqi market is open for Nepali workers, but with the entry route closed, workers are trapped in a vicious cycle of spending huge amounts of money on ‘settings’ and taking ‘illegal routes’ but not being able to return on leave. The fact that major cities in the Kurdistan Region, such as Sulaymaniyah, Erbil, and Baghdad, remain open until midnight, and the respectful treatment of foreign workers, proves that this region is no longer as unstable as it once was.

There are currently 30,000 Nepali workers in Iraq. There are about 25,000 in Kurdistan alone, and more than 4,000 in Baghdad and the surrounding areas. They work in various sectors, from oil and gas, construction, hotels and restaurants, hospitals, airports, marketing, domestic workers to multinational companies. Many earn a monthly salary of $500 to $1,200. More than 11 billion rupees in remittances enter Nepal annually from Iraq alone. This large amount is not included in the legal statistics because it comes through informal channels, but the income sources of Nepalis in Iraq are solid, stable, and secure. The most serious problem is the fear of not being able to return to Iraq after returning to Nepal. Due to the ban, workers are not allowed to legally return to Iraq by plane from their own country. 

Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, and Bangladeshi citizens with Aqama (identity card) can travel to and from Iraq directly from their countries, but Nepalis do not get that facility. Therefore, after coming on leave, workers are forced to return illegally via a third country after paying 2-3 lakh rupees. Most of the workers have not returned home for 12 years due to this reason. This has seriously increased family separation, mental stress, and social distancing.

Workers in Iraq are not only safe, many of them are also running businesses like hotels, restaurants, bars, clothing stores, meat shops, beauty parlors, groceries, travel, and food supplies with their own investment. Even though local citizens there want to visit Nepal, it is not easy due to the restrictions. The Iraqi government is amending labor laws and creating a foreign worker-friendly environment. The demand for skilled workers is increasing in the oil and gas, hospitals, IT, construction, tourism, hotel sector, airports, and marketing ‘segments’. If Nepal legally opens up labor permits, Iraq could become a stable, high-paying, and safe labor destination in the near future.