The taskforce under the direct supervision of Labour Minister Mohammad Ishtiyak Rai will have the power to investigate, monitor, penalise and recommend authorities concerned such as the Department of Labour and Immigration Department to take action against illegal workers as well as employers
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“A large number of foreigners are working without work permit in Nepal,” Rai said. “We will manage things to solve this problem.”
Though there is no exact data on how many foreigners are working in Nepal without valid work permit, the labour ministry estimates there are more than 50,000 such foreigners.
An official at the Labour Department said foreigners have been found working illegally in hotels, restaurants, construction companies and the telecommunication and hydropower sectors.
The government move comes amid increasing trend of foreigners visiting Nepal on tourist visa and staying back to work, foreigners’ involvement in criminal activities, unemployment in the country and loss of billions of rupees in income tax and work permit fees. The Department of Labour charges Rs 10,000 a year for work permit from foreigners and Rs 5,000 for Indian nationals coming to Nepal for employment.
“Mainly, foreigners working in NGOs, INGOs and the private sector have not obtained employment permit and appropriate visa,” said Krishna Hari Pushkar Karna, the assistant-spokesperson at the ministry.
He added that the government will make all foreign workers, except diplomatic staff enjoying diplomatic privilege and immunities, acquire work permit from the Department of Labour.
“If they fail to do so, the workers can be fined up to Rs 20,000 or fired from their jobs or repatriated.”
The Labour Act-1992 has made it mandatory for foreigners coming to Nepal to work to get labour permits. Foreign nationals can be employed in Nepali diplomatic missions, NGO, INGOs, inter-governmental organisations, consultancies, educations institutions and in other business and service sectors only after acquiring prior permission from the department.
However, the provision in the law has not been implemented effectively due to negligence of the government and lack of coordination between ministries and offices under them. A high-level official at the ministry said that since the issue is of serious concern, they have been requesting all the ministries to work to discourage the trend. However, no action was taken by any ministry, the official added. “We will act as soon as the task force is finalised,” the official added. The task force will comprise officials from the labour ministry and the Department of Labour.
The official added that so far some 6,000 to 7,000 foreign nationals have taken permission for employment in Nepal to work in diplomatic missions, banks, the telecom and the education sectors, among others. The Department of Labour grants permission to employers to engage a non-Nepali at work for a maximum period of five years and in a specialised kind of skilled technical post, for a period of up to seven years, if Nepalis are hard to find for the specific job.
Karna said neither employers nor employees were serious about immigration and labour laws. “Corruption and irregularities have also encouraged foreigners and employers in Nepal to ignore the provisions in the law,” he added.
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