Nepal’s department of labour (DoL) is going to strictly regulate the non-diplomatic foreign workers working without employment permit in the country, according to a government official.
The non-compliant workers, if found, would be blacklisted, said Krishna Hari Pushkar, director general of the department.
“Some 50,000 foreign nationals are working here without official work permits, which could pose threats to our national sovereignty, integrity and even job creation for Nepalese youths. Se we have decided to strictly impose the work permit system as per the Labour Act 1992,” he said.
Only 9,119 foreigners working in various hydropower projects, construction companies, telecommunications, banking and hospitality sectors, among others, have been granted official work permit, according to DoL statistics, Xinhua reported.
There are mostly Chinese nationals among the foreigners who have obtained the official employment permit to work mainly in infrastructure and communications sectors in Nepal.
A team led by DoL officials, comprising representatives from the ministry of labour and employment, ministry of foreign affairs and department of immigration, will start on-the-spot monitoring of the non-diplomatic foreigners working in different sectors such as social organisations, charities and diplomatic missions from next week, the official said.
The DoL has planned to put the names of non-compliant foreigners who will continue their jobs without official work permits finally in the blacklist and such individual will have to leave the country.
Likewise a separate team will conduct the status assessment study of the informally working foreigners in Nepal that is expected to reveal the facts.
Assessing primarily that Nepal is losing some $46mn annually due to tax avoidance by foreigners working informally in Nepal, the DoL has begun scrutinising the applicants ‘ details before issuance of the work permit.
The DoL has initiated the process of interviewing respective candidate who seeks employment permit to work in Nepal.
During the interview, one must justify his/her compatibility to Nepal’s national interest, correlation between the academic certificate and nature of job along with the necessary approval from other concerned authorities according to the job specifications.
Though the DoL received some two dozens of applications for work permit in the last fortnight, it has approved only four of them after successful completion of the interview.
Most of the foreigners working without official permit in Nepal are from Bhutan, South Korea, Europe, the United States and Australia, according to the DoL.
Bhutanese nationals are informally working in the education sector largely whereas the South Koreans and Europeans are illegally working in various charities. The citizens of the US and Australia are found to be working in several non-governmental organisations, international nongovernmental organisations and even in some diplomatic missions.
“The donor agencies such as UNDP, DFID, ADB and the like are also hiring non-diplomatic staffs for very common job positions like computer operator or vehicle driver which is against the provision in section 4(a) of the Labour Act 1992 given that foreigners can be hired for high level technical jobs only,” director general Pushkar stated.
Any individual working in Nepal for more than 180 days must pay the income tax as per the income tax laws. But most of the illegally working foreigners are supposed to receive their benefits directly at their bank account in their home countries.
“If any foreigner generates income here in Nepal, he/she must obtain a permanent account number and pay the income tax, rental tax and other necessary taxes, which is mandatory by law,” said Bishnu Nepal, deputy director general of the inland revenue department, adding: “We will co-ordinate with the DoL to investigate the issue further.”