Ramesh Shrestha

The new policy will make it mandatory for employers to get preapproval from the labour department while hiring foreign workers and publish advertisement of job vacancy in at least five national dailies

ANY institution planning to hire foreign human resource has to follow stringent government procedures henceforth. The Ministry of Labour and Transport Management (MoLTM) is all set to introduce a new policy with tougher provisions for foreign workers’ recruitment. The policy to be introduced by the next fiscal year will make it mandatory for employers to get preapproval from the Department of Labour (DoL) while hiring foreign human resource and publish advertisement of job vacancy in at least five national dailies. The idea, according to officials of the labour department, is to give priority to Nepali citizens. As per the Labour Act 1992, if a Nepali citizen is not available for any skilled technical post even after publishing advertisements in newspapers, the employer can submit an application to the department along with the evidence of such a fact for the approval to appoint a non-Nepali citizen.

However, many employers, according to the ministry, have been appointing foreigners even in general positions, challenging the law and ending job opportunities for Nepali citizens. Labour Minister Mohammad Ishtiyak Rai said the government will make it compulsory for establishments (employers) to involve a government official during interview sessions to ascertain whether Nepali citizens are capable for the required post. “There are several establishments that just publish ‘formality vacancy notice’ and recruit foreigners without holding interviews with potential Nepali candidates for the post. Now, this will not happen,” he said. Minister Rai added that the establishments will be allowed to hire foreign workers as per the existing labour law only if Nepali citizens are not available for the specific posts, upon submission of an application to the department along with the evidence for the approval to appoint a non-Nepali citizen. As per the labour law, if there is no competent Nepali candidate for the post, the Department of Labour may, on the recommendation of the Labour Office, grant the approval to engage a non-Nepali citizen at work for a maximum period of up to five years not exceeding two years at a time, and in the specialised kind of skilled technical post, for a period up to seven years, and later the establishment should make arrangement to replace the foreigner with a skilled Nepali citizen.

The new policy to be devised by tightening the appointment procedures also aims to create employment opportunities for an estimated 10,000 Nepali citizens. “We have been informed that many projects and establishments have recruited foreigners for even general posts like computer operators,” said a high level official at the MoLTM. To identify the real situation of foreigners working in Nepal and to know their legal status, the ministry is also working on an action plan. After completing work on the action plan, the ministry plans to collect data from all offices employing foreigners and take action against those providing jobs without work permits based on the labour law or immigration law. There are an estimated over 50,000 foreign workers in the country excluding Indian nationals. And till date, over 7,000 are reported to have obtained work permits from the department. On June 14, the ministry had also issued a notice to establishments providing jobs to foreigners to compulsorily acquire work permit for workers or face legal action.

Published on: 6 July 2011 | The Kathmandu Post