Health risks deserve attention. Recent studies and reporting suggest that around one-third of kidney failure, dialysis or transplant patients in some Nepali treatment settings are returnee migrant workers
Migrant workers remain central to Nepal's public and political discourse. Political parties have promised jobs, governance reform, social protection, and economic transformation. The current government has announced programmes on safer foreign employment, skills development, lower recruitment costs, remittance investment, rescue support, repatriation of deceased workers, and support for returnees. But the current moment must move from recognition to protection of migrant workers.
Nepal's latest living standards data shows that 76.8 percent of households receive remittances. They sustain households, communities, and the national economy. Yet Nepal's contradiction remains: the country depends on migrant workers, but policy is still not built around their reality. Every major policy: employment, health, education, agriculture, finance, housing, social protection, local development, diplomacy and governance, should be tested by one question: does it protect migrant workers and create opportunity for their families?
Political assurances that the budget would address migrant workers' concerns created a benchmark. The government has responded through safer migration measures, skills development, lower recruitment costs, remittance investment and support for returnees. The Rs 3.63 billion allocation for labour and employment gives these commitments visibility.
However, the budget would be stronger if it specified measurable targets: workers protected from illegal recruitment fees, wage-theft cases resolved, embassies strengthened, returnees supported, migrant families assisted locally, and skills programmes linked to decent jobs at home, and better-paid work abroad. Skills development should not only prepare workers to leave; it should also help them earn, invest and build productive futures in Nepal.
The promise-reality gap is clear. Nepali citizens abroad have repeatedly been promised voting rights, but no practical system exists. With the Rastriya Swatantra Party now in a government enjoying a near two-thirds majority, its promise to create 1.2 million jobs must move from slogan to plan: where, how, at what wage level, and by when.
For many migrant workers, reality remains harsh. They still pay illegal recruitment fees, leave under debt, face contract substitution, work in unsafe conditions, experience delayed or unpaid wages, and struggle to access justice abroad. Embassies in major labour-destination countries are expected to respond to distress, detention, injury, death, unpaid wages, and employer abuse. Yet many lack adequate labour attachés, legal support, interpreters, shelter links, emergency funds, and digital complaint systems. For workers in crisis, this gap can mean the difference between protection and abandonment.
This is why ambassador selection matters. Ambassadors and senior officials must understand labour migration, consular protection, wage recovery, crisis response, and migrant welfare. Their test should be simple: can they protect Nepali workers when they are exploited, detained, injured, unpaid or stranded?
Families left behind are also missing from policy. Spouses manage debt, children grow up without parents, and elderly parents depend on remittances without daily care. When remittances stop because of injury, deportation, job loss or death, the whole household can collapse. Migrant families need local support, financial literacy, insurance navigation and emergency assistance, not praise alone.
Health risks deserve attention. Recent studies and reporting suggest that around one-third of kidney failure, dialysis or transplant patients in some Nepali treatment settings are returnee migrant workers, many exposed to extreme heat, dehydration, and hazardous work abroad. Migrant protection is also a public health, climate and social protection issue.
Returnees remain under-supported. They bring skills, savings, and international exposure, but often lack financing, certification, enterprise support, and market links. Women migrant workers face particular risks. Restrictions imposed in the name of protection can push them into irregular and more dangerous routes. Nepal needs safe, documented and rights-based migration channels for women.
The ongoing West Asia/Gulf crisis adds urgency. Nepal's dependence on foreign labour migration is also a national risk, with a large share of remittances linked to Gulf labour markets. Prolonged conflict, labour-market disruption, evacuation emergencies or declining demand could affect workers, families, foreign exchange reserves, and the wider economy.
Government action still appears too close to business as usual. Nepal needs to shift from labour administration to migration risk governance.
Diplomacy and development must work together. Diplomacy should protect Nepalis abroad through enforceable labour agreements, wage protection, employer-paid recruitment, legal aid, and crisis-response mechanisms. Engagement through the ILO, IOM, the Colombo Process and Abu Dhabi Dialogue can strengthen Nepal's bargaining power, while the WHO can support efforts to address migration-related health risks, including kidney disease.
Development must create credible alternatives at home. Large-scale job creation requires productive investment, higher capital spending, local enterprise, agriculture modernisation, tourism, care work, green jobs, digital work, manufacturing, and returnee entrepreneurship. Without such a strategy, migration will remain forced rather than chosen.
Migrant-worker protection is also a rights issue. Workers do not stop being Nepali citizens when they cross the border. They deserve political voice, including a credible pathway to vote from abroad. They also deserve fair recruitment, enforceable contracts, timely wages, safe work, access to justice and protection from forced labour.
Migrant workers sustain Nepal. Protection must now replace promises.
Ghale is a former member of the WHO Governance Team in Geneva with an interest in global health, policy, and diplomacy
