The history of labour migration from Nepal dates back to the period of unification, more than 300 years ago. The mass migration from the unified territory to the neighbouring countries to escape the new State’s taxation system, which was often exploitive, could be considered the first incidence of out-migration of labour from Nepal.The numbers of labour migrants leaving Nepal continued to gradually increase until 1999.

A substantial number of Nepalese migrants (almost half according to one estimate) are working in India; with the majority of the remainder in Qatar, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait.

Skill composition of workers: Simply categorized as skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled no disaggregated data available on the skill category, however many labour migrants are deployed in the manufacturing and construction works.

Total amount of incoming migrant remittances by Fiscal Year (in US $)
2011/12 = $4.47 billion
2010/11 = $3.42 billion
2009/10 = 3.13 billion
2008/9 = $2.83 billion
2007/8 = $1.93 billion
2006/7 = $1.35 billion
2005/6 = 1.32 billion

Migrant Resources Centers

The establishment of the Migrant Resource Center (MRC) is considered as a good practice. The very first one was established centrally at the Foreign Employment Promotion Board (FEPB) in 2010. The MRC aims to provide a range of services that include providing information to aspirant migrants about the basic requirements for foreign employment and to provide them an informed choice; which will prevent trafficking or being cheated by the unscrupulous agents and put them in a better bargaining position with the recruitment agencies. MRC also provides information on return and reintegration, health and referral services for the returnee migrants. Sometimes they have served as a bridge for rescuing the migrants stranded in the destination countries. Currently the services of the MRC are expanded to many more districts.

The MRC established at the FEPB, Kathmandu is expected to function as a national central level MRC which links the existing MRCs across the nation. This central level MRC is expected to act as an information repository as well as facilitate the process by which MRCs across the nation have standardized relevant information service to potential migrant workers.

MRCs in the districts

 MRCs have been established in around 30 districts including Kathmandu. Each MRC provides orientation on key issues of foreign employment for passport applicants and other interested persons. Another important component of the MRCs is linking migrants in distress to paralegal and legal aid which includes supporting them to file complaints related to fraud, rescuing stranded workers, supporting the repatriation of dead bodies, providing legal support for migrants in detention or facilitating the search for missing migrants. The MRCs refer interested potential migrants to vocational skills trainings. The MRCs all have staff as well as returnee volunteers who ensure that the message is passed to the community level.

In 6 districts, and as a pilot, the MRCs also provide financial literacy and psychosocial support to families left behind.

Now the Government of Nepal is envisioning establishing MRCs in all the 75 districts of Nepal which is under discussion with other line ministries.

Skilling of migrants

Young men and women receive short vocational skills trainings before their departure. The training for men is mainly in construction related occupations such as scaffolding, shuttering carpentry, assistant building electrician etc. Graduates from these trainings earn on average one third more than unskilled workers. For women, the training is mainly related to the garment sector.

Community level orientation

The FEPB is promoting community level orientations to enable informed decision regarding foreign employment. The main objective is to increase awareness and information sharing on safe migration during the pre-departure phase. There are two different types of community level orientations: one four-hour community orientation module and one two-day (15 hours) pre-decision training module. The one-day orientation manual aims to provide a brief introduction on labour migration by orienting existing women’s groups and mixed local groups (men and women) in the community focusing on basic information on worker’s rights, benefits of local employment, labour migration, benefits, risks, challenges and how to reduce the potential risk of migration.

In addition, a need to facilitate pre-informed decision process regarding labour migration was also identified by the FEPB. In this regard, a two-day pre-decision training module has been developed to enable interested potential migrant workers to make informed decisions regarding foreign employment. The information provided would enable them to assess the advantages and disadvantages to facilitate an informed decision. Some of the topics covered include information on safe migration, assessment of issues and challenges, assessment of costs and income, assessment of health, and challenges of irregular migration. The objective is to enable potential migrant to assess their situation before making a decision on migration for employment.

A review committee chaired by the FEPB has been formed to review both the developed manuals and is working on finalizing the documents. The FEPB then plans to endorse the manuals and roll out the trainings accordingly. The detailed steps and different levels of information needed in the various steps during the pre-departure stage are being addressed by the FEPB.

Labour Village

In 2014, the Government of Nepal through the Ministry of Labour and Employment opened the Labour Village as a contributing mechanism towards a smoother and more transparent foreign employment process by consolidating the range of services under one roof. The concept behind the Labour Village is to establish an area that houses under one roof all the foreign employment related services, including all the various country-specific offices, government agencies, recruitment agencies, regulatory services, pre-departure information services, welfare assistance services, and skills training providers. By bringing all the facilities, which were/are originally spread across Kathmandu, in one area, the intent of the Government is to eliminate the extensive traveling prospective migrants endure when going through the formal channel of the migration process. By offering a range of services such as pre-approval, information dissemination, counselling, training, legal support, financial assistance, and final approval; the effective operationalization of the “Labour Village” is expected to speed-up the process of foreign employment. In addition to an efficient procedure, the mechanism also aims to improve transparency in the services. In a nutshell, the purpose of the labour village is to be a one stop center to cater all the services related to labour migration from one place of contact.

Note: These initiatives of the Government of Nepal were supported by various donors such as the European Union, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, DFID, IOM Development Fund and many others through the projects implemented by ILO, IOM, SAMI Helvetas and many NGOs and CSOs.

The National Labour Policy, 1999 and the Foreign Employment Policy, 2012
The Foreign Employment Act, 1985 and the Foreign Employment Act, 2007
The Foreign Employment Regulation, 2008

Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE)

Labour Migration for employment 2013/14
Population Census 2011