Foreign Employment Entrepreneurs Claim 'Free Visa, Free Ticket' Policy Impractical

Kathmandu. Foreign employment entrepreneurs have claimed that the 'Free Visa, Free Ticket' policy implemented by the government is completely impractical and has devastated the entire foreign employment sector. 

Addressing a press conference in the capital on Wednesday, entrepreneurs stated that the current service fee of Rs 10,000 makes it impossible to operate the business and has reduced the competitive capacity of Nepali entrepreneurs in the international market. 

On behalf of the entrepreneurs, Chairman Hari Bahadur Pandey cited examples of neighboring countries India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, stating that Nepal's policy has harmed both entrepreneurs and workers. 

In the context of legal provisions allowing service fees of 35,000 Indian Rupees in India, 1,000 to 2,000 dollars in Sri Lanka, and equivalent to four months' salary in Pakistan, his argument is that the Rs 10,000 set in Nepal does not even cover the costs. Entrepreneurs argued that it is not logical to reduce the service fee to Rs 10,000 after 12 years, when it was set at Rs 70,000 for Gulf countries and Rs 80,000 for Malaysia in 2060 BS, before the decision of free visa and free ticket. 

According to entrepreneurs, in situations where some employer companies do not provide free visas and tickets, entrepreneurs are compelled to bring quotas at their own expense. In such a situation, the government's policy has caused workers to face more hassle and fraud, and the influence of middlemen has increased, as stated in the press release. 

Entrepreneurs have demanded from the government through a press release to consider the practices of neighboring countries and implement a system in Nepal where the service fee is equivalent to at least two months' salary, and workers can travel by purchasing their own tickets if the employer does not provide air tickets. 

Entrepreneurs demand that the government should take seriously the fact that remittances contribute about 30 percent to the country's economy and 56 percent of households are dependent on it. They have drawn the government's attention to improve the impractical policy, create an environment for entrepreneurs to work as 'taxpayers with dignity', and immediately formulate and implement a national foreign employment policy.