The Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (Nafea) has urged recruitment agencies to stop sending migrant workers to Malaysia to protest the labour-receiving country’s syndicate over the paid services that Nepalese migrants are supposed to use before leaving for their work destinations.

Nepalese migrants going to work in Malaysia are now paying up to 35,000 Nepalese rupees for pre-departure services, including visa processing and health check-ups depending on the nature of jobs, while they earlier paid just around 3300 Nepalese rupees. A large chunk of that money goes to Malaysian-based outsourcing agents operating against the laws.

“The situation is such that workers are compelled to pay more than 10,000 Nepalese rupees just to submit their passports. There are three outsourcing agents to process the visas,” said former Nafea Chairman Bal Bahadur Tamang.

Besides this, the workers have to pay additional charges for work permit, insurance coverage and service charges to the recruiting agencies and training centre.

Five Malaysian companies have absolute control over the pre-departure services from the local companies who were providing service with little charge. Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd was the first Malaysian agent to enter Nepal with a visa processing duty at the Malaysian Embassy in Kathmandu. 

Visa processing fee for Malaysia rocketed from 700 Nepalese rupees to 3,900 Nepalese rupees after its arrival in November 2013. It is working in partnership with the Hong Kong-based Ultratech (HK) Limited and Malaysia VLN Nepal, a company based in Nepal.

Last year, Malaysia introduced two more agents in Nepal under the Foreign Workers Centralised Management System and biometric health check-ups.

Though the Bestinet Sdn Bhd had assured that it would conduct health check-ups at usual fees, it started charging 7,700 Nepalese rupees from each migrant through two different agents. Earlier, the migrants paid 2,625 Nepalese rupees for the same.

Nafea representatives told the Post that the association had urged the concerned agencies to stop sending new visa applications. However, some agencies are reportedly applying for new visas ignoring Nafea’s call.

The government has been turning a blind eye to what the agencies call “economic exploitation” of the Malaysian government. The recruiting agencies claim some influential leaders and top bureaucrats are defending these agents due to their own business interests. Many sub-agents appointed by the Malaysian firms are owned by relatives of politicians, including former ministers.

Last week, Govinda Mani Bhurtel, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, said the government has been making efforts to urge the Malaysian government to scrap the system. He said the government was taking up the matter with its Malaysian counterpart through diplomatic channels.

Nafea’s move is likely to cause a further decline in the number of migrants going to Malaysia. Fewer Nepalese migrants are now taking up jobs in Malaysia due to the increasing associated migration costs. Only 60,979 Nepalese took jobs in Malaysia in 2015-16, a sharp decline from 202,828 a year earlier.