February 19: Nepali migrant workers aspiring to go to Israel for foreign employment have not been able to do so due to the delay in formulating work procedure by the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security (MoLESS).

The Government of Nepal had signed a bilateral labor agreement with Israel for sending Nepali workers to Israel on September 30.

 “We are prepared to call for the applications but MoLESS has not sent the work procedure, said Kumar Prasad Dahal, Director General of the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE). According to him, the DoFE has prepared online system to receive applications from aspiring migrant workers who are interested to work in Israel.

“They can submit the application from home.  As soon as the work procedure is ready, we will call for applications.”

Dahal added that Israel is interested to hire workers as soon as possible but the delay on part of the MoLESS is affecting the process. A high-level official from the MoLESS informed that although the work procedure has been drafted, it has been put on hold due to self-interest of some officials.

Once the applications are open, 500 caregivers will be going to Israel for employment. The workers will be sent under the government-to-government (G2G) initiative. Workers will be employed as caregivers in nursing homes, day care centers and hospitals.

DoFE has also requested job seekers not to be duped if any individual promises to send them to Israel in exchange for money. “There are rumors that some agents are active in the market to dupe people on the pretext of sending them to Israel, if report is filed with evidence, DoFE will take action,” said Dahal. He also added that foreign employment companies and private sector don’t have any kind of roles in sending workers to Israel.

As per the new protocol, Nepali workers will have to bear the travel cost themselves.

Nepali workers willing to go to Israel for work will have to pay the visa fee, medical test fee as well as orientation charge and a certain amount to the welfare fund themselves.