In the last five years, the number of people going abroad for employment with work permits is 3.148 million, but according to information provided to the Nepali embassy by the governments of major destination countries, 2.7 million Nepali workers are working.
What you should know
After 10 years of returning home, 40-year-old Vishal Devkota from Sindhuli has arrived in Kathmandu to seek foreign employment again. After working in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for three years and Malaysia for five years, he came to Nepal after the 2072 earthquake, saying that he would make a living in his homeland.
Devkota started a hardware business in Dudhauli Municipality-10, Sindhuli during this period. ‘The goods went on loan.’ He could not raise money from his own relatives and friends,’ he said. ‘I got tired of asking for loans in the village.’ He has sunk 1.7 million rupees in this business. ‘I do not want to go abroad. My children are doing well. I had to stay in Kathmandu to educate them. I had no choice but to go abroad,’ Devkota, who came to Kathmandu to take orientation training for foreign employment, told Kantipur. ‘I have got a job as a security guard in Malaysia.’ The minimum salary is 1,700 ringgit per month.'
He now only needs to get a work permit from the Foreign Employment Department. 'I want to vote in the 21 Falgun elections,' he said, 'I want to vote for those who are better than us.' According to him, it is difficult to get normal employment without a permanent government in the country. 'Leaders in the villages are wandering around looking for voters. We are rushing to Kathmandu to prepare to go abroad,' he said, '20-25 thousand rupees a month is not enough to support our lives.'
According to him, there are no voters in the villages of Sindhuli. According to the Foreign Employment Department, in the last five years alone, 41,000 people from Sindhuli have gone for foreign employment. According to the Election Commission, there are 215,019 voters in Sindhuli.
Rajesh Kumar Singh of Bahudarmai Municipality-2, Parsa, said that he would not have gone abroad if he had received regular payment for the work he did. ‘I was in a hurry to go to Mauritius for 7 months. Finally, I got a visa. I have paid 350,000 rupees to the manpower company to go to Mauritius,’ he said. ‘If I had got tile and marble work here, I would not have had to go to Mauritius for labor work.’
He expressed his anger at the leaders, saying that he was forced to go abroad due to lack of employment in the country. Only 300 youth from his village are abroad. He used to work as a tile and marble worker. ‘There are many people who work as tile and marble workers. We get work on small contracts. On top of that, the moneylenders do not pay on time,’ he said. ‘In the past, people used to earn lakhs of rupees in the country.’ Now, even 40,000 rupees are not available.'
2.5 million 28 thousand youth are working among those who have gone for foreign employment with labor permits. In the last five years, 3.148 million people have gone for foreign employment with labor permits from the Department of Foreign Employment. This includes not only new workers, but also those who have been visiting Nepal.
According to the details provided by the government in major destination countries to the Nepali embassy as of last January, the number of Nepalis working only with residence permits is 2.7 million. The highest number is in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with 900,000, Malaysia with 400,000, Saudi Arabia with 384,000, Qatar with 360,000, Japan with 274,000, Kuwait with 175,000, Romania with 60,000, Korea with 50,000, Portugal with 50,000, Croatia with 40,000, Bahrain with 30,000 and Oman with 25,000. This does not include details of Nepalis living in Europe without documents.
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Looking at the labor permits of the last five years, this figure seems close. 3148,000 Nepalis have been spread across more than 148 countries around the world from the department. Out of which, the largest number of those who have obtained labor permits are concentrated in the Gulf and East Asia. The countries where the largest number of Nepalis are working are the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with 747,000, Qatar with 648,000, Saudi Arabia with 642,000, Malaysia with 450,000, and Kuwait with 179,000. There are 66,000 Nepali workers in Romania, 54,000 in Japan, 49,000 in Korea, and 46,000 in Bahrain.
Durga Dhakal from Banke, who has been working in the service sector in Kuwait for 14 years and has not been able to return due to her financial situation, said. 'I came to Kuwait for two years.' It has been 14 years, and I am still not sure when I will return to Nepal,' she said, 'I am a single woman and I am raising three children with great difficulty.' She says that it takes 80,000 rupees every month to raise three children in a room in Kathmandu.
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In the last five years, 43,000 people, including 2,000 women, have gone abroad from Banke alone. During this period, the top 10 districts that went abroad the most are Dhanusha with 177,000, Jhapa with 142,000, Siraha with 137,000, Morang with 125,000, Mahottari with 124,000, and Sunsari with 99,000. Similarly, the department's data shows that 97,000 people from Rupandehi, 86,000 from Saptari, 73,000 from Chitwan, and 68,000 from Tanahun have gone abroad.
'Working abroad should not be seen only as a compulsion. It is also an opportunity.' I am living in Korea because I got the opportunity,' said Nawaraj Timalsina of Hetauda, who has been working in South Korea for a decade. 'It is not that a productive young generation like us should only live in our own country. We consider coming to Korea from Nepal a great achievement. There is a wave of Korean citizens who are advanced in all respects going to America for more opportunities. It is not that development alone will stop immigration.'
I am saddened by not being able to vote
Samim Miyan of Pokhara reached Qatar at the age of 16. He now works in Cyprus. 'When I flew abroad, I didn't even have a moustache,' said 34-year-old Miyan, 'I have only been home for a year.' The rest of the day was spent in Qatar and Cyprus.'
If we could vote directly, these issues would have been addressed - Samim Miyan, Pokhara Miyan had chosen Cyprus as his next destination after returning from working in Qatar for 8 years. He has not yet had the opportunity to choose his public representative. 'My Bangladeshi friends who work with me were able to vote by post from here. We were limited to digital,' he said, 'This time I was hoping that we would be able to vote from abroad. Bangladesh showed that it is not impossible.'
Miyan claims that the issue of Nepalis living abroad is not a priority for anyone. 'There is a huge problem with domestic workers in Cyprus. There is no effective information flow from the Nepali embassy in Israel. Language translators are not deployed. We are not able to ask for the services and facilities stipulated in the contract. "But even a labor attaché is not deployed in Cyprus," he said. "If we could vote directly, our issues would have been addressed."
Indira Shah, who has been working in Qatar for a decade, complained that there is no one to help the workers. "I have not voted in any election yet. I don't even want to vote in the election. I don't think that I will win or lose by voting," she said. "But whoever comes, let him come. Let the country run well. Our sorrow is with us. No one is putting a bandage on it."
