Millions of Nepalis are going abroad every year for employment, education, business and permanent residence. The Immigration Department has released the data that more than 1.6 million Nepalis left the country in 2023. 7 lakh 71 thousand in the financial year 2079/80 and 7 lakh 41 thousand in 2080/81 took out work permits for foreign employment alone.

From foreign workers to students leaving for higher education, this exodus is having a profound impact on Nepal's society, economy and future. In the last fiscal year, the data of 14.5 billion remittances was also made public. Sometimes remittances have made a significant contribution to Nepal's foreign exchange reserves, and sometimes skilled manpower migration has added challenges to long-term development goals.

After Nepal enacted the Foreign Employment Act, 2042, the initiative to ensure the safe immigration of Nepali workers by implementing the labor permit system was formally started. Currently, countries like Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Korea have become the main destinations of Nepali workers.

In unskilled or semi-skilled condition, Nepalis are sending money to the country by selling sweat in Gulf countries, Malaysia, South Korea etc. But now we need to self-assess, have we planned to transform the sources of remittances? Are we moving towards sustainable and respectable income generation through the export of skilled manpower?

Along with the non-utilization of remittances in the productive sector, educational attrition has emerged as another key challenge. Every month tens of thousands of Nepali students go abroad for higher education studies, the government funds also go out. Billions of dollars are spent abroad every year.

According to the data released by the Nepal Rastra Bank, 88.98 billion rupees have been sent abroad for study only in 8 months of the current financial year. But most of those students do not return to Nepal. They sell their properties, the family goes into debt, and eventually they move abroad for permanent residence. After that, remittances will not come, nor will the country get the return of investment in education. So it is not just a 'brain drain' it is also a 'wealth drain' i.e. capital flight.

The purpose of citizens moving abroad from Nepal is becoming diverse and complex with time. Nepalese who went abroad in the early stages mainly in search of limited employment opportunities for livelihood are now going abroad with broader goals ranging from education to business and permanent migration.

According to the data of the National Census, 2078, 21 lakh 90 thousand 592 Nepalis went abroad. 82.2 percent of them were male and 17.8 percent were female. Similarly, according to the Economic Survey of the Government of Nepal, the total number of people who took work permits for foreign employment has exceeded 5.6 million. Among them, there are 53 lakh men and 3 lakh women. This number is a significant part of Nepal's working population, which has a direct impact on the country's labor structure and productivity.

The number of Nepali students going abroad for higher education studies is also remarkable. In the last financial year 2080/81, 1 lakh 12 thousand 968 NOCs were issued in the same year. This seems to be diverting Nepal's educational expenditure towards the international market. In general, immigration from Nepal for foreign employment and higher education has emerged as a major social, economic and policy trend.

From an economic point of view, it is confirmed by the data that the remittances brought by foreign employment have made a significant contribution to the economy of Nepal. Foreign remittances occupy 22.5 percent of the country's gross domestic product and 30 percent of the average revenue is from remittances paid by foreign employment.

Remittances have to some extent solved the problem of cash shortage in rural areas, especially the utility segment. But when analyzing its usage trend, it is clear that remittance income has not been transformed into long-term productive activities.

Important areas such as modernization in agriculture, expansion of small enterprises or growth of innovative investments within urban networks are still untouched by the impact of remittances. The main reason for this is the lack of proper investment policy by the state and the weakness in financial literacy. 

Similarly, from the perspective of education migration, the growing tendency to go abroad has raised serious policy questions. On the one hand, there is a steady increase in the number of people going abroad for higher education. On the other hand, the state's own universities and technical educational institutions have not been able to provide the quality, efficiency and opportunities that students expect. It seems that a large part of the young people who went for studies are choosing the path of permanent migration to other countries rather than returning to their country after their studies. This has not only resulted in the loss of skilled manpower, but also reduced the social return of the results produced by the education system. 

From a social point of view, foreign immigration has also affected the family structure, redefinition of gender roles and social mobility in Nepali society. Especially from the villages of Mofasal, the men of the productive age group have left for foreign employment, so only women, old people and children are left in the village.

Women are moving forward in family decision-making, agricultural management and social roles. While this trend is seen as a possibility of empowerment on the one hand, on the other hand the absence of the state has forced them to carry a double burden. This restructuring of society is accidental and haphazard, with no policy or planning involvement of the state. 

The current flow of immigration is not only a question of economic or personal freedom, but it seems to be the result of a kind of policy silence. All these structural failures like the failure of the state to create jobs, lack of interest in improving education, and failure to give hope to the youth have made migration natural. 

The next strategic thinking should be oriented towards making immigration controlled and quality. This is not only a question of foreign employment policy, but a matter linked to the review of investment in education, the restructuring of the internal labor market and the building of state capacity that can provide the youth with an internal vision of a bright future.

There is a need for the state to stop looking at foreign workers only as remittance donors and institutionally assimilate their skills, experience and sustainable contribution. Similarly, education does not stop migration, it is necessary to prepare mechanisms to link its purpose and results back to nation building.

The current pattern of migration in Nepal is not simply a reflection of individual aspirations, nor is it a reflection of state-planned opportunities. It is a joint product of structural incapacity and institutional silence. The state's responsibility should not be limited to paper-based efforts to manage migration.

The state should create an alternative environment to keep alive the hope, ability and labor of the youth in the country. A policy mechanism is needed to institutionalize the benefits of immigration and turn them into long-term social investments. Providing opportunities to skilled manpower, converting remittances into productive sectors and bridging the deepening divisions within society are the major needs of today.

Young people who have returned after working abroad for 4-5 years in the field of fishing, construction, engine repair or electrical skills are almost unemployed after arriving in Nepal. Because the state does not have the policy thinking or institutional mechanism to use their skills. Skilled workers who return to Nepal neither get to use their skills nor get concessions in the enterprise. Underestimating such capabilities is weakening us in the long run.

In terms of education migration, the state should now go beyond the fatalistic thinking that some students will go and some will return. Going abroad is not a crime but when the return of that migration does not benefit the country, then it is a matter of serious concern. Therefore, it is necessary to create an environment for the return of the state. It is necessary to develop policies, research-friendly infrastructure and diplomacy of knowledge and intelligence to connect with international networks for the returning manpower.

Now is the time to come up with a skill-based integrated rehabilitation plan for the union, state and local governments. Conversion of skilled labor into entrepreneurship, concessional loans, encouragement of small scale industries and investment in productive sectors should be facilitated.

Deep coordination between migration policy, education policy and enterprise policy is inevitable. Nepali migrants are not only looked at, but if their experience, skills and capital are mixed in the production system, they will become not only a source of income, but the backbone of the country. Our priority should be not only the quantity of remittance, but also its quality and sustainable use. 

Ultimately, the immigration debate forces us to question Nepal's social contract and the character of the state. Can our state provide an environment for the youth, where they don't need to go out? In an open economy, the state cannot prevent willing citizens from going abroad, but are all the immigrants going today willing or forced by the state? Until we have answers to these questions, immigration will become not just a policy debate, but an indicator of social injustice. From the day we start to transform it, not to manage it, Nepal will become a country of "those who return" and not "those who leave".