KATHMANDU: About 30,000 Nepalis, who passed the Korean language test, are awaiting their turn to leave for South Korea for employment.
According to Kamal Raj Shrestha, information officer of the Employment Promotion System (EPS) Section at the Department of Foreign Employment, there have been delays in sending 30,000 workers who passed the language test for agriculture, manufacturing, forestry, hotel, and ship-building sectors to South Korea.
“Out of 17,030 people who passed the language test last year, more than 3,000 are still waiting for their skills test results. The recruitment process has been rather slow,” Shrestha said. “We have been urging the relevant Korean authorities to speed up the recruitment process. But we have not received any response.”
More than 3,500 youths, who passed the language test for recruitment in the ship-building sector, have been waiting to leave for Korea for over a year now. Shrestha said they cannot say for sure when their visas will be issued.
In January, Minister of Labor, Employment and Social Security Sharat Singh Bhandari had urged South Korean Ambassador Park Tae-yong to expedite the recruitment of Nepali workers, including those who have passed the language test and are on the roster.
South Korea, which opened applications for the language test for the manufacturing sector in January last year, has yet to publish results. The delay in publishing the examination schedule has left more than 70,000 students in the lurch.
After South Korean authorities unveiled their intention to hire Nepali workers in the construction sector, a large number of Nepalis have been preparing for the Korean language test. Officials of the EPS branch say South Korea is now showing no interest in taking Nepali workers for the construction sector. They estimate that South Korea is not publishing results of the language test since they still have many qualified candidates on the roster.
It is also believed that South Korea is showing less interest in taking workers from Nepal as it is sourcing workers from other countries under the E-7 visa.
Meanwhile, the MoU between Nepal and South Korea on sending Nepali workers under EPS expired in November last year. South Korea started recruiting workers from Nepal in 2008. Around 70,000 Nepalis are employed in different sectors in South Korea currently.
