KATHMANDU, Feb 22: In the first seven months of the current fiscal year 2022/23, nearly 500,000 youths have gone abroad for foreign employment.
According to the data of the Department of Foreign Employment, the number of new labor permits and renewals of labor permits for foreign employment from mid-July to mid-February reached 482,475.
This fiscal year, the number of Nepali people who took new final work permits (institutional and individual) within seven months has reached 314,767. In the Nepali month of Magh (mid-Jan to mid-Feb) alone, 39,124 young people obtained new work permits for foreign employment.
Spike in youths opting for foreign employment
During this period, 167,708 people flew abroad for foreign employment with re-employment permits, according to the data of the Foreign Employment Department.
From mid-January to mid-February, more than 25,000 youth renewed their work permits. This does not include the number of people who went abroad to work illegally on visit visas through Indian routes. During this period, it seems that the maximum number of 182,000 youths went to work in Malaysia.
This fiscal year, the number of people going to work abroad has increased by 130,000 compared to last year. During the same period last year, 352,423 young people went abroad. The number of people who went abroad with a new work permit was only 200,102, while the number of Nepalis who got a new work permit was 152,325.
Similarly, remittance income has also increased this year along with the number of people going to work abroad. According to the data of Nepal Rastra Bank, the remittance inflow has increased by 24.3 percent in the Nepali month of Paush this year.
In the first six months of the current fiscal year, the country received about Rs 585.8 billion in remittances. In the same period of the previous year, the remittance inflow had decreased by five percent.
