The Malaysian government has put on hold the decision to raise the visa processing fee and medical check-up charge for Nepali foreign job aspirants wanting to go to Malaysia for the time being.

 The Malaysian embassy in Kathmandu was planning to outsource works related to handling passports of visa applicants to a third party called FOSA which would have increased the visa processing cost by Rs 3200. It was also in the process of appointing Bestinet — a Malaysia-based IT firm — for medical check-ups which would have raised the medical charge by $15 (Rs 1500 approximately).

 This decision had come barely after one and a half months since the embassy had revised the visa processing fee from Rs 700 to Rs 3900, effective from November 1.

The Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA) had staged protests against the embassy on December 23 for raising the price which was also reported by the Malaysian media. 

“After considering a request by the Nepali embassy in Malaysia, the Federal Administrative Centre of Malaysia,

Putrajaya, called a meeting on Monday, which concluded that there would be no increase in any charge for some time but it will be increased in the near future,” said a source involved with the foreign employment business on condition of anonymity.

According to spokesperson at the ministry of foreign affairs Dipak Dhital, “The Nepali government had requested the Malaysian government not to raise the price as we are not in a position to face various problems that could arise at once in different sectors associated with foreign employment.”

He also said that both the countries should seek a win-win approach in this matter as both have been deriving benefits from each other. For instance, Nepali people are actively involved in the development of Malaysia for which Nepal is receiving good remittance.

NAFEA has planned to hold a meeting regarding this issue with secretaries of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Thursday, before taking the matter to the International Labour Organisation.

If the Malaysian embassy raises the visa processing and medical check-up fees in the near future, then a Nepali foreign job migrant to Malaysia will have to pay Rs 11,225 as visa and medical check-up fees against Rs 6,525 which they are paying at present.

As per data provided by the Department of Foreign Employment, more than 25,912 foreign job seekers have migrated to Malaysia since November 1 till date.

Published on: 1 January 2014 | The Himalayan Times