Nepali ambassador to Germany Ram Kaji Khadka and Michael van der Cammen, Director of International Affairs signed a joint declaration of intent for fair labor migration in Germany.
KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Labour, Employment, and Social Security is preparing to delegate the responsibility of sending workers to Germany to privately-owned recruitment agencies.
The ministry signed a government-level labor agreement with Germany two weeks ago. The two nations have agreed to send Nepali youths to work in various sectors in Germany.
Instead of selecting and sending the workers on its own, the ministry is planning to entrust the responsibility to a few recruitment agencies. The labor agreement mentions that workers should be sent free of charge. Since the government cannot impose any fees, there is a plan to use recruitment agencies to charge money from the workers, a source at the ministry said.
The source said senior officials of the ministry are divided over delegating the responsibility of sending workers to recruitment agencies. Some officials are in favor of establishing a separate unit to oversee the task of sending workers to Germany. However, according to the source, the leadership of the ministry is not supportive of this idea.
“Recruitment agencies lack transparency when it comes to sending workers. They charge a substantial amount of money. Despite this, the ministry is preparing to involve recruitment agencies in sending workers to Germany,” the source added. “There are rumors of financial exchanges involved in this.”
The source said preparations are underway to bring some recruitment agencies on board the worker-sending process under the pretext that Nepal’s government employment model is not compatible with Germany. “It appears that recruitment agencies have influenced the ministry’s leadership,” the source said. “It is not possible to send workers without charging any fee if the private sector is involved in the sending process.”
The ministry is preparing to open applications from youths interested in working in Germany in January. However, the ministry hasn’t finalized any criteria for selecting and sending workers. Meanwhile, representatives of recruitment agencies are lobbying with high-ranking officials of the ministry to outsource the task of sending workers to them.
Danduraj Ghimire, the spokesperson for the ministry, said the ministry hasn’t yet decided whether the government itself would select and send the workers or outsource the task to recruitment agencies. “We will send workers as per the agreement signed between the two countries,” he added.
The ministry has signed an agreement to send trainees as well as skilled workers to Germany.
Rajendra Bhandari, president of the Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies, said that since the government has licensed recruitment companies to send workers for foreign employment, it would be appropriate to send workers to Germany through these agencies.
Some ministry officials claim that recruitment agencies will have to send workers at zero cost if they are given the responsibility of sending workers to Germany.
According to the Department of Foreign Employment, around 500 Nepalis leave for employment in Germany annually on individual visas. Approximately 10,000 Nepalis are believed to be in Germany for study or work.
Germany requires approximately 400,000 migrant workers annually, according to a study conducted by a German research firm. The ministry estimates that Germany could source up to 10,000 workers from Nepal annually.
