Kathmandu, February 21
The government has decided to temporarily halt issuance of pre-approval of labour permits for those seeking to work as two- and four-wheeler drivers in Qatar and United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Issuing a notice today, the Department of Foreign Employment has said that the government has decided to halt the work permit for those seeking employment as drivers in UAE and Qatar as most of the workers who have gone there for the said professions have landed in trouble.
According to the notice, such migrant workers have not been given the minimum salary as per the approved demand letter and many have been rendered jobless for a long time due to not being able to get their licence easily.
Moreover the notice has further stated that the department has been flooded with complaints every day as most Nepali drivers working in the aforementioned countries have been flagged for traffic violations many times, not to mention have had to pay a large amount of fines and gotten into accidents due to their lack of knowledge and experience related to the traffic rules and road discipline there.
"So it is not safe to send workers as bike riders and taxi drivers to these countries," the notice read.
"A decision was made on February 20 (Monday) to halt the issuance of labour permit pre-approval for the posts of bike riders and taxi drivers and the Nepali embassies based in Dubai and Doha have been instructed not to verify the demand attestation for those posts."
A version of this article appears in the print on February 22, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
