KATHMANDU, July 8: Over 300 manpower companies are unlikely to have their licenses renewed as they have failed to send at least 100 Nepali migrant workers out of the country in a year as per the government’s requirement for license renewal.
The government has made it mandatory for the recruitment agencies to have the history of sending at least 100 people abroad for two consecutive fiscal years.
According to the Department of Foreign Employment, there are 855 registered recruitment agencies and more than 300 have failed to produce the documents stating they have sent the required number for renewal of their operating licenses.
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Their licenses will be automatically terminated if they don’t renew them by the end of this fiscal year. “For the renewal of their licenses, they should have the history of sending at least 100 people in FY 2017/18 and 2018/19,” said Bhola Nath Guragain, information officer at the Department of Foreign Employment.
Manpower companies are on the verge of collapsing following the government’s decision to submit documents proving they had sent at least 100 people for foreign employment while renewing their licenses. Meanwhile, 413 companies had failed to send 100 people abroad for foreign employment in FY 2017/18 and the number of companies increased in FY 2018/19 as 563 companies catered to less than 100 clients.
Malaysia is one of the preferred labor destinations for Nepali migrant workers and many manpower companies focused on Malaysia as the supplying destination had been hard hit after the Nepal Government imposed a ban on its citizens going to Malaysia for jobs for 15 months. “Malaysia is one of the huge employers of Nepali migrant workers and many companies in Nepal are mostly focused on Malaysia,” said Prithivi Narayan Ray, operator of Arohan Human Risource Pvt Ltd, a Kathmandu-based manpower. “We are one of them and we have been affected by the government’s decision.” The company has not renewed its license as it has not fulfilled the quota set by the government. Nepal and Malaysia in September last year agreed to resume the stalled process of labor supply from Nepal to Malaysia.
Ray complained that the government-imposed ban lasted for more than a year and then it introduced the decision to increase the limit of deposit. “The 100 quota was introduced after we deposited Rs 20 million and just when the work was picking up, the issuance of work permit was suspended again,” he told Republica Online adding that they could have fulfilled the quota had there been no COVID-19 outbreak. The government’s revised provision had proposed a security deposit of a minimum of Rs 5 million to maximum Rs 20 million with Rs 10 to 40 million as bank guarantee as per the overseas employment agencies’ categories based on the volume of manpower they send to employing countries.
With the suspension of international flights in Nepal and other parts of the world, Nepal has not been able to send migrant workers to Gulf countries for foreign employment. Stating that the inability to fulfill the quota was not their fault, manpower companies have been demanding that the criteria set by the government be relaxed. “Taking the concern into consideration, the cabinet meeting might take some decision to soothe the tension,” said Guragain.
