Kathmandu, July 26

The number of foreigners taking work permits to work in Nepal came down by 30 per cent in fiscal 2018-19 compared to the previous fiscal.

As per the statistics maintained by the Department of Labour and Occupational Safety (DoLOS), 1,119 expats took work permits to work in different sectors in the country in the last fiscal year against 1,600 expats who took such permits to work in Nepal in fiscal 2017-18. In 2016-17, 1,200 foreigners had taken such work permits from DoLOS.

Though the number of expatriates taking work permits has declined, DoLOS informed that the number of foreigners renewing their work permits in Nepal increased significantly in the last fiscal year.

As Nepal lacks skilled and technical manpower for development activities, it is the country’s obligation to bring in skilled human resources from abroad. As a result, there are thousands of foreign workers working in Nepal. However, the number of expats taking new work permits declined in the last fiscal owing to slow pace of development works, as per Lal Mani Ojha, director general at DoLOS.

“The government has adopted policies to bring in foreign investment in different projects. Along with the inflow of foreign investment, we need foreign expertise and technology which raises the demand of foreign workers in the country,” said Ojha, adding that the inflow of foreign workers went down in the last fiscal as project development was not smooth during the year.

As per DoLOS, expats have been taking work permits especially in sectors including infrastructure, hydropower, hospitality and medical.

The government had earlier introduced the ‘Guideline for Work Permit Management of Non-Nepali Employees 2014’ and made it mandatory for foreigners to take work permits. However, the number of foreigners approaching the government for work permits is considerably low following ineffective implementation of the enacted law.

However, the government is in the final stage of drafting the Labour Guideline and its endorsement will be crucial to compel all foreigners to take work permits from the government. Currently, DoLOS has been inspecting foreign workers only on the basis of complaints that the department receives sporadically.