Kathmandu, February 2:

One of the last batches of Nepali job-seekers from the year 2008’s quota left today

for a much-sought after destination, South Korea.

The 136-member group left under the Employment Permit System (EPS).

After talk began emanating that South Korea had minimised the recruitment of r of Nepali workers due to the ongoing global financial crisis, the embassy of the Republic of Korea here issued a statement to set the record straight. It recently said that there has been no change in policy at all regarding issuance of employment permits for contracts with foreign workers, including Nepalis.

“The annual quota (from March to February of the following year ) set by the Korean government for foreign workers gets exhausted just before the year-end, leaving no room for new contracts in the remaining period, i.e. January and February,” said the embassy.

For the year between 2008 and February 2009, the annual quota of 72,000 exhausted on December 30, 2008, and that is why the Korean government has stopped issuing new employment permits until the begining of March 2009.

“The chances of some 4,000 Nepalis getting passage to go and work in Korea and whose names are already on the job roster, will be revived starting March 2009,” the South Korean embassy clarified.

Those who have already received their labour contract from their Korean employers will not be affected by the exhaustion of the quota and thus still proceed to Korea, said an official at the EPS Section under the Department of Labour and Employment Promotion (DoLE).

The majority of workers is assigned to the manufacturing and agriculture sector while some others are employed mostly in hotels, he explained.

After receiving HRD-Korea’s final letter with the names of job aspirants, the department had begun sending them to Korea from August 10. Till date, the EPS section at DoLEP has received 2,519 certificates of confirmation of visa issuance (CCVI). The name-list that HRD-Korea sent was according to the CCVI list.

Similarly, 2,811 have made labour contracts but 160 CCVI and 67 labour contracts have also been cancelled so far, according to the department.

Earlier, job aspirants, who passed the medical tests, underwent a 15-day orientation. As per EPS rules, the first step for employment in South Korea is the Korean Language Test (KLT) and a subsequent stringent medical test.

After the government sealed an agreement with the Korean government to send the workers under EPS, Nepalis are flying to Korea on an airfare charge of $970 (about Rs 63,000).

Prior to this, some manpower agencies used to charge hefty amounts of upto Rs 6 lakhs from each worker.