At a time when news about myriad problems faced by migrant workers are grabbing headlines, Nepalese workers continue to be duped by fraudsters at home and abroad, particularly those who are in or heading toward the Gulf countries. 

 

But still, a huge number of Nepalese workers is always desperate to leave the country, mainly due to the lack of employment at home, but also because they are drawn to life in the city or driven by a desire to build a better future. 

 

People, both from rural and urban areas, have had to bear the brunt of long transition in the country and its effect on the economy. No wonder, many of them simply rush to seize any opportunity offered to them by unscrupulous agents with dubious credentials and end up being the victim of the ever growing foreign employment scam. 

 

Aasha Ram Sardar left Nepal with a dream of earning 1700 ringgit per month, but had to return homeland from the Malaysian airport itself. He didn´t even get a chance to get out of the airport. 

 

People queuing up at the Department of Foreign Employment to get their work permit. The case of fraud related to foreign employment have been rising along with the rise in the number of people seeking to go abroad for jobs. (Republica) 

 

“I had to stay in the Malaysian airport for continuous six days and spend a day in a jail as nobody came to pick me up at the airport,” he moaned. 

 

Sardar, 35, had paid Rs 140,000 to a manpower company in Kathmandu to go to Malaysia and work there. But he ended up losing his hard-earned money. 

 

“When I was leaving for Malaysia, the people at the airport checked my documents and said that I had all the necessary papers,” said Sardar. “But once in Malaysia, I was told that my visa had expired and sent back to Nepal. I think the manpower company in Kathmandu works in collusion with the people at the Nepalese airport.” 

 

In another case, Buddheshwar Mandal was very hopeful that his younger brother would remit some money from his income in Saudi Arabia to his family. But in a dramatic turn of events, Tej Narayan Mandal, Buddheshwar´s brother, wants to return home at the earliest after spending less than a month in Saudi Arabia. 

 

“A manpower company here promised to provide him a job in a sales department, but left him at a hotel to work as a dish washer. The agent there seized his phone and he has been out of contact for the last 24 days,” says Mandal, adding, “My brother has been pleading me to bring him back to Nepal from Saudi Arabia.”

 

Buddheshwar said they paid Rs 110,000 to the recruiting agency in Kathmandu by keeping their land on collateral to send Tej Narayan abroad. “My brother passed his SLC exams in first division and he would have got a good job here. Now, we are not sure whether he will get the promised job or how to bring him back to Nepal,” he said. 

 

He also informed that the manpower company that sent him still promises to find a good job for his brother. 

Buddheshwar Mandal, who has filed a complaint at the Litigation and Inspection Section (LIS) at the DoFE, is unsure of his brother´s return. 

 

Ten youths had left Saptari for Saudi Arabia along with Tej Narayan Mandal, all of whom are now stranded in Saudi Arabia. Their family members in Nepal have filed complaint at the DoFE against the agency charging it with fraud. 

 

Jibacha Yadav, on the other hand has not received a visa for Saudi Arabia even after paying a huge sum demanded by the agency. “I paid Rs 118,000 to the manpower company nine months ago but haven´t received my visa yet,” he said. 

 

Yadav informed that he was promised a job of a cleaner with a salary of Rs. 17,000 per month. “The agent reimbursed only Rs 30,000 after I filed a complaint at the DoFE. I used to visit the DoFE office everyday in the hopes of getting my money back,” he said. 

 

Like Sardar, Mandal and Yadav, hundreds of people flock the DoFE office to lodge complaints in a bid to get their money refunded. Most of the victims said that they have to make several rounds, some time for several months, to get their money back or bring their family members home from abroad. 

 

Nepalese migrant workers are not only defrauded of their money by the recruiting agencies but also lied to about the salary, nature of work and work hours. But their ordeals do not end there as reports have frequently revealed that migrant workers are victimized by their employers as well. 

 

Amidst the criticism of sluggish investigation into the cases related to foreign employment fraud, the government has recently decided to seek online proof of people who enroll for orientation program before departing abroad in a bid to lessen the fraud cases in foreign employment. 

 

All the 107 institutions that provide orientation will now have to send emails, including details of the candidates, to the Ministry of Labour, Foreign Employment Promotion Board and DoFE. 

 

As per the Foreign Employment Act, 2064 and Foreign Employment Regulation, 2064, those who are about to leave the country on a foreign employment must take orientation on foreign employment law of Nepal, geographical status, cultural, economic, social and political status of the country where they are going to work. 

 

The workers are also required to take orientation on the language, labor law, immigration law and the traffic rules of the destined country. Most importantly, they are required to have some knowledge on HIV/AIDS, communicable disease and sexual and reproductive health. 

 

Box news

Director at Litigation and Inspection Section (LIS) at DoFE, Narayan Rimal accepts that the fraud cases have been rising in recent years. He informed that more of such cases are against the manpower companies who promise the job in Gulf countries. 

 

In a bid to protect them from fraudsters, Rimal offered some tips to the people aspiring to go abroad to work. 

 

• Enroll into orientation program to learn about the destined country

• Should apply for foreign employment as per existing rules and regulations

• Apply via registered manpower company 

• Compulsory receipt of payment made to manpower companies

• Written proof of work contract, including promised work, salary and working hours