IANS
Kathmandu

The foreign employment agencies in Nepal reopened their services yesterday after reaching an agreement with the ministry of labour and employment, ending their two-week long protest.
The foreign employment entrepreneurs’ association, the umbrella body of manpower agencies, was on strike after the Nepal government decided to enforce free visa and air tickets to migrant workers seeking employment in Malaysia and six Gulf
countries.
Around 2,000 youths leave the country every day for foreign employment seeking a better future. The six Gulf countries of Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Kuwait and Malaysia have been the favourite destinations for
Nepalese job-seekers.
According to the association, following Saturday’s agreement, the manpower agencies will adopt free visa and air ticket provision on a trial basis for three months. A high-level panel has also been set up to study the viability of this new provision.
According to the new provision, the agencies cannot charge more than Rs10,000 ($98) from the job-seekers. It excludes the charge of insurance, welfare fund and
medical tests.
Earlier, the government had fixed Rs70,000 as service charge for workers going to the Gulf and Rs80,000 for those going to Malaysia.
There are more than 750 manpower agencies in the country.

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