839,266 received labor permits for foreign employment in 2024/25

KATHMANDU: A total of 839,266 individuals received labour permits for foreign employment in fiscal year 2024/25.

According to the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE), the number includes 744,811 men and 94,455 women.

Speaking at a press meet in Kathmandu on Friday, Kamal Prasad Bhattarai, the director general of DoFE, said the number of labour permits issued in 2024/25 is over 100,000 higher than the previous fiscal year. “Of the total, 60.28% were new permits, while 39.72% were for re-entry permits,” he added.

UAE was the top destination for Nepali migrant workers in 2024/25, followed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Malaysia, Romania, Japan, South Korea and Bahrain.

The DoFE has issued over 3.5 million labour permits in the past five years.

According to the DoFE, although 1,687 recruitment agencies are registered with it, only 724 are currently active.

Meanwhile, the DoFE paid Rs 720 million in compensation to migrant workers in the current fiscal year.

“We have fulfilled our commitment to fully digitize the permit issuance process. Over the past one and a half months, labour permits have been issued within two minutes of receiving the application,” Bhattarai claimed.