MRP for foreign job aspirants mandatory from today

KATHMANDU:

From Thursday onwards, those planning to leave the country for foreign employment must present machine readable passport (MRP) to get final work permit.

On Wednesday, the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) said that it would not issue final work permit to individuals carrying hand-written passports.

Issuing a notice, DoFE said that MRP is a must to get final work permit irrespective of labour destination countries. In case of individuals who are already granted visa or in process of returning for employment after vacation, they will be issued work permit for ‘certain period’ based on the submission of certified receipt of application registered to acquire the MRP.

Krishna Hari Pushkar, director general of DoFE said that even as the provision may cause temporary inconvenience for foreign job seekers, the mandatory provision of the MRP is in favour of outbound Nepali workers.

The move is in line with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)’s schedule to completely ban hand-written passports from November, 2015.

“Nepali migrant workers in many labour destinations and transit points have already started facing problems because of hand-written passports,” said Pushkar. He added it is possible for Nepalis employed in different countries to acquire MRP through the Nepali embassies too, but since it takes three to four months to get the passport, they may face problems.

However, individuals with hand-written passports containing valid visa may not have to go through the entire visa application process. “In such cases, individuals applying for MRP will be given back their hand-written passports as well. The old passports will contain a remark ‘cancelled without prejudice’, meaning those individuals will only need to carry both passports,” explained Pushkar.

DoFE officials said that the MRP for work permit had been made mandatory after holding discussions with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and associations of foreign employment agencies.

Nepali embassies for long had also been asking DoFE to issue work permits based on the MRP. Mandating MRP for Nepali migrant workers is also expected to discourage possible human trafficking and minimise cases of fake passports.

It is estimated that out of 100 aspirants applying for foreign jobs, 10 to 20 individuals are still carrying the old hand-written passports. Records on departure of Nepali workers show that more than 1,500 individuals are leaving the country for employment each day. Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and South Korea are the major destinations for foreign employment for Nepali aspirants.

Source: THT