Foreign Employment Sector Faces Systemic Issues and Discrimination

Nepal's economy is primarily sustained by foreign employment, a reality that cannot be denied or ignored. Every year, millions of youths pack their desires and dreams into a suitcase and stand at the departure gate of the international airport. With no other employment options in the country, traveling from the Gulf to Malaysia is their compulsion to secure their future and that of their families. 

The manpower business acts as a strong bridge between this compulsion and these dreams. However, it is a tragedy that the very sector and its entrepreneurs who create the main environment for bringing in remittances and help millions of unemployed youths find job opportunities in the international market are treated as second-class, dishonored, and suspicious citizens by the state machinery, media, and society. 

Our society and administrative bodies, accustomed to reveling in cheap popularity and momentary populism, are trying to portray this business as an untouchable group of 'looters.' This is the most short-sighted and discriminatory behavior in modern history. While weaknesses certainly exist, the state power has begun to view the manpower business sector in a discriminatory manner, looking at it as a whole rather than on a case-by-case basis. 

State's Double Standards, Past Political Pressure, and the Cycle of Policy Loot

Looking at it simply, the state itself collects tens of thousands for passport processing, labor permits, medical tests, and orientation, totaling around 15-20 thousand rupees. But when it comes to entrepreneurs, the government starts chanting the populist slogan of 'Free Visa, Free Ticket,' saying 'more than 10 thousand cannot be taken.' However, without any awareness of how practical this is, how the international labor market operates from a Nepali perspective, and what the state needs to do for this, isn't this the height of the state's double character? If the government is truly sensitive to workers, why doesn't it make its own fees free? 

Although operating incorrectly, the reality is that for every worker sent, 70 percent of the amount collected by the entrepreneur is spent on foreign employers, agents, and procedural costs. Entrepreneurs are merely becoming scapegoats, while the entrepreneur receives only a profit of 10 to 60/70 thousand, for which they have taken full responsibility for the worker for two years.

The ugliest part of this murky game is that, from the past, top leaders of political parties and influential individuals have been involved in making the foreign employment market expensive and distorted, either from behind the scenes or by putting forward their cronies. An organized syndicate has been active, transferring their close associates to ministries and departments, exerting political pressure on entrepreneurs to secure 'demands' from attractive countries, and collecting hefty levies for political parties.

How is it justice that while big fish remain safe under the umbrella of policy corruption, simple entrepreneurs who invest millions, mortgage their property, and work with honesty are pushed to the brink of depression and suicide due to the mental harassment and financial loss inflicted by this very state?

From Embassies to Departments: Institutional Bribery and 'Media Trial'

The past incidents where bribes had to be paid to department officials to expedite processes in Nepal, and officials at Nepali embassies themselves engage in bargaining for bribes for demand attestation abroad, are not hidden from anyone. If 10,000 is written as a service charge for demand attestation, it will not be attested, and the embassy itself says to make it zero cost.

In the final stage of labor approval, the Department of Foreign Employment delays files for weeks, citing