The manpower agencies will be allowed to take a maximum of Rs 10,000 only if the employers are reluctant to pay the service charge. The visa and round-trip flight tickets are supposed to be the responsibility of the employers. This policy applies to seven countries: Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Malaysia.
Free-visa, free-ticket—which can also be understood as Employers Pay Model—dates back to 2007, when Nepal signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Qatar, which stated workers will not have to pay a single paisa during the recruitment process (excluding fees for health check-ups, insurance and pre-departure orientation). However, in 2010, the government announced that manpower agencies could take Rs 70,000 to Rs 80,000 from the applicants. The 2015 scheme changed that, at least on paper. The ground reality remained the same. Jeet Bahadur Magar, chairperson, Nepal Manpower Pvt Ltd, a recruitment company, admits that the agencies, including his, have not followed the rule. He claims there is no other way but to take money from migrant workers to run their businesses. To put this into context, it becomes necessary to understand how the foreign employment process has been going on so far. Most of the manpower agencies are competing amongst themselves on who gets the maximum demand for human resources from employers, be it Nepali or international recruitment agencies. Ideally, the employers are supposed to pay a certain amount of service charge to these companies, and bear the cost of visas and tickets. But instead, manpower establishments have been paying potential clients to get more business in the future. The cash for this dubious transaction comes from the applicant’s pocket. “Many agencies follow the same method and potential employers only reach out to those companies that pay them for their demands,” says Magar. “No employer will work with companies who will ask for a service charge even though that is the legal process.” Many recruiters are also reluctant to pay for the visas and round-trip flight tickets because of the trend set by Nepali recruitment agencies. Even though people are aware of the ‘free-visa, free-ticket’ scheme, they have no other option but to pay the amount asked for by the manpower companies, says Maya Kumari Sharma, former ambassador of Nepal to Qatar. “They don’t have good opportunities to work in their own country so there’s nothing they can do but cough up the money somehow,” she says. And indeed, people choose to go abroad after being turned down for jobs in Nepal. Nepali says that her husband left for Qatar when he was 21 years old. He wanted to send money back home. Though she was involved in farming and husbandry, it wasn’t enough to sustain the family. “He was the only breadwinner in the family,” she says. Her husband would not have left her to live alone in Gorkha had he seen any other possibilities for them to make a living, she adds. One of the many reasons why Sharma believes the government hasn’t taken any action is because many of these recruitment agencies have political connections. “Their political affiliation is their shield. So they carry on with their illegal activities while the workers suffer,” she says. Umakanta Acharya, director general, Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE), agrees with Sharma. “Nepal has a longstanding history of political influence in every sector. It’s not just the manpower agencies,” he says. “Even when we have tried to take action, they have been protected by their political clout.” On the other hand, if the workers were to take legal action, they don’t have substantial evidence. The agencies, out of fear of getting caught, only make vouchers that round off to Rs 10,000, even when the bills are much higher. Magar verifies the claim. “The workers are faced with a take it or leave it situation, with the agencies always safeguarding themselves,” he says. Acharya adds there are several complaints lodged at the DoFE. But with no substantial evidence to prove that the agencies have taken money amounting to more than what is legally allowed, there is nothing the department can do. “All we can do, that too in a handful of cases, is help the workers get their money back, and fine the manpower agency,” he says. Since there is no legal provision to shut down the company, the cycle continues. There are other alternatives for the government to look into the works of manpower companies, which the authorities have, so far, conveniently chosen to ignore. “Many manpower company owners have invested in several properties. The investment isn’t justified by the money they should be earning legally,” says Roshan Sedhai, an independent journalist who has reported extensively on the plight of migrant workers. Acharya says it’s the Department of Money Laundering Investigation (DoMLI) that needs to take the necessary actions against the agencies but there’s been nothing but silence on that front. Hari Thapa, chairperson, National Network of Safe Migration (NNSM), an organization working for Nepali migrant workers, says an elaborate investigation should be launched, failing which a simple inspection at the airport would be enough to open a pandora’s box. Acharya says the DoFE initiated an investigation but nothing came out of it due to lack of substantial evidence. Acharya believes one of the many reasons behind the failed investigation is different departments working in isolation rather than in collaboration with one another. There are issues of money laundering, breach of government policy, as well as human rights violation, none of which fall under the jurisdiction of the same government office. Unfortunately, until and unless there is one department to look into all the issues, Acharya says, migrant workers will continue to suffer at the hands of these unscrupulous manpower agencies.
