KATHMANDU, June 13: Nepali migrant workers aspiring to travel to Saudi Arabia for work will now have to mandatorily submit certificates of passing the Secondary Education Examination (SEE).
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has set a precondition for the Nepali laborers that they can travel to the country on a working visa only after the verification of the SEE pass certificate from the Department of Consular Services under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Nepal.
According to a statement issued by Saudi Arabia, Nepali nationals with educational certificates below the SEE (or its equivalent SLC) will not be eligible to travel to the country for work. It means that only people who have completed SEE will now be able to go for work in Saudi Arabia which is one of the major labor destination countries for Nepalis.
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Meanwhile, Rajendra Bhandari, president of Nepal Association of Foreign Agencies, said that the Gulf country should reconsider the criteria of educational qualification for workers who have acquired special skills or vocational training..
"We believe that there should not be any requirement for educational certificates for Nepalis who have undergone vocational training. If Saudi Arabia is going to take workers on the basis of educational qualifications, we will not send any kind of workers to Saudi Arabia,” he warned.
He expresses his concern that the process of verifying educational certificates will lead to a situation where it becomes impossible to send workers.
“Determining the educational qualifications of workers who go for labor work is a wrong practice," said Bhandari, adding that an educational certificate is not required for labor work in any country in the world.
However, he mentioned that he was unsure of the reason behind Saudi Arabia's emphasis on educational qualification. According to Bhandari, Saudi Arabia had proposed implementing a similar system to other countries too. However, he said that other nations rejected this proposal, and suggested that Nepal should also take diplomatic measures to address the issue.
A large number of Nepali citizens are employed in Saudi Arabia. The Department of Foreign Employment reported that approximately 200,000 Nepalis went to Saudi Arabia for employment after obtaining work permits in the last fiscal year.
