The Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) has decided to take action against Malaysia VLN Nepal — an outsourced visa processing company of the Malaysian embassy in Nepal — citing that it did not coordinate with DoFE nor the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE) before hiking the processing fee.

According to director general at DoFE Krishna Hari Pushkar, “VLN, which was hired by the Malaysian embassy, did not coordinate and take approval from the Nepal government before increasing visa processing charge by around six times to Rs 3,900 from Rs 700.” Due to this, Nepali foreign job migrants to Malaysia are compelled to bear financial burden by taking loans at high interest rates.

The visa processing fee was hiked from November 1, 2013.

Pushkar also questioned the authenticity of VLN because it did not produce any authorised receipt approved by the Malaysian government. “If the decision to hike the visa fee was made by the Malaysian government, it should have come through the concerned channel or ministry, but it did not.”

The department is planning to take action against the company as per the Foreign Employment Act, which states that if any licensee collects visa fees or costs in excess of the fees or costs as prescribed, the department shall require the licensee to return such excess fees or costs to the concerned person and punish such licensee with a fine of Rs 100,000.

Meanwhile, director at Malaysia VLN Nepal Suman Shrestha said that DoFE has no authority to take action against them because it is a matter relating to two countries. He also said that Malaysia VLN Nepal is the property of the Malaysian government and that they are authorised by the Malaysian embassy in Nepal.

Shrestha also claimed that Malaysia VLN Nepal is a transparent company. According to him, VLN Nepal processed visas of 68,000 people from November 1, 2013 to February this year, generating Rs 217.6 million and has paid Rs 26.7 million in tax to the Nepal government.

But, Malaysia VLN Nepal was found to be filing a request at the central bank seeking transfer of around Rs 30 million raised from visa-processing fee here to Hong Kong instead of Malaysia.

In this matter, spokesperson at MoLE Buddhi Bahadur Khadka said, “Red flags have been raised regarding the relation between VLN and the Malaysian embassy as the company has passed on the economic burden to Nepalis without any coordination.”

Published on: 21 March 2014 | The Himalayan Times