Centre for the Study of Labour and Mobility
(CESLAM)

• Migration Trends:
 Trends over the years
 Nepali Migrants Currently in Qatar
 Sector of Work
 Migrants and the Labour Force in Qatar
• Migration Actors:
 Social Institutions
 Government Institutions
 Private Actors
 Financial Intermediaries
• Process of Migration and Challenges:
 Process of Migrating from Nepal
 Challenged for Migrant Workers

2,500,000
2,000,000
1,500,000
1,000,000
500,000
0
Male
Female
Total
1952/54
173,919
24,501
198,120
1981
328,448
74,529
402,977
1991
548,002
110,288
658,290
2001
679,469
82,712
762,181
2011
1,663,237
254,666
1,917,903
Source: Central Bureau of Statistics, National Population Censuses, 1952/54, 1981, 1991, 2001, 2011

Total Number of Labour Permits Issued
(2006/07-2013/14)
Source: Department of Foreign Employment

Labour Permits by Destination 2013/14
3,7% 4,5%
10,4%
16,5%
24,4%
40,6%
Qatar
Malaysia
Saudi Arabia
U A E
Kuwait
Others
Source: Department of Foreign Employment

140000
120000
100000
80000
60000
40000
20000
0
105 681
102 966
245 505 477
1802
8791
9030
14 086
19 895
24 128
26 850
42 394
55 892
59 705
85 442
76 175
55 940
90935
128874
Source: Department of Foreign Employment

Gendered Perspective of the Migration to Qatar
100%
99%
98%
97%
Female
Male
Source: Department of Foreign Employment

6,1%
6,5%
5,3%
5,0%
10,6%
26,5%
4,4%
35,5%
Agriculture
Manufacturing,
Mining, Utilities
Construction
Hotels, Catering
Transport
Trade, Commerce
Services
Data Source: World Bank, 2011

20,0
15,0
10,0
5,0
0,0
25,0
Nepali Migrant Stock in Qatar
10,0
13,5
15,7
21.0
% of Population
% of Labour Force
2010 2013
Source: World Bank

• Prospective migrants typically receive preliminary information from friends and family
• Use of social networks to inquire about job opportunities
• Choice of an agent and/or RA based either on personal acquaintance or on the recommendation of friends and family (usually returnees).

Aspirant and Returnee Migrants – Making Contact with the Person Who Helped with the Processing of
Documents
How was the Person
Contacted
Nepali Aspirant
No.
%
Nepali Returnee
25 34.7
No.
15
%
32.6
Already a Personal
Acquaintance
Through Family/Relative
Through Friends
Suggested by Friends
Working Abroad
Through a Neighbour
Recruiting Agents/Training
Centres
Advertisement
NA
Total
20
16
1
-
-
-
10
72
27.8
22.2
1.4
-
-
-
13.9
100
8
8
-
10
-
5
-
17.4
17.4
-
21.7
-
10.9
-
46 100
Source: The Asia Foundation, 2013

Ministry of Labour and Employment
(MoLE)
• Governs the policies pertaining to labour and employment
• Operates vocational training and skills development programs
• DoFE was established under its aegis as per FEA,
2007
Department of
Foreign Employment
(DoFE)
• Central government body responsible for governing labour migration
• Responsible for monitoring the Recruitment
Agencies
• Issues labour permits for workers
• Receives and settles complaints against Recruitment
Agencies and Individual Agents

Ministry of
Foreign Affairs
(MoFA)
• Negotiates labour agreements with destination countries
• Provides various services to current migrants through Nepali embassies located in destination countries
Foreign
Employment
Promotion Board
(FEPB)
• Development of educational material
• Information dissemination and awareness raising
• Research and analysis on labour market situation of destination countries
• Responsible for the management of the
Migrant Worker’s Welfare Fund
• Assistance and support to relevant embassies for “promotional activities”

Foreign
Employment
Tribunal
• Trial and settlement of cases other than those punishable by DoFE
• Cases have to be forwarded by the investigation officers at DoFE
Council for
Technical
Education and
Vocational
Training
(CTEVT)
• Provide vocational and skills training, either directly or through affiliates
• Design and update the curricula for the various training courses
• Conduct research and analysis of the labour market situation
• Conduct skills-testing and certification

• Intermediaries between the migrant worker and the placement agencies/employers in the country of destination
• Around 760 recruitment agencies are registered with DOFE
• Agents are generally the first point of contact in the labour migration process
• RAs largely depend on individual
‘agents’ mostly unlicensed, to supply them with workers

Person Helping to Arrange Travel Documents
Source
Broker/Agent
Manpower
Relatives 5
Relatives working in that country
Brother
-
4
Husband
Friends
3
2
Nepali Aspirant
No.
60
19
Neighbour
Self (No one)
Total
1
7
101
4.0
3.0
2.0
1.0
6.9
100
%
59.4
18.8
-
5.0
-
-
-
-
1
52
3
2
Nepali Returnee
No.
37
9
%
72.5
17.6
5.9
3.9
-
-
-
-
2.0
100
Source: The Asia Foundation, 2013

• Two day pre-departure orientation training course
• There are 74 government recognized centres that are mostly concentrated in the Kathmandu Valley
• Conduct medical check-ups for Nepali migrant workers
• Licensed by National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL)
• NPHL has authorised 179 laboratories to conduct medical check-ups for Nepali migrant workers
• The migrant worker or the concerned RA is required to procure insurance
• Currently, there are nine insurance companies that have been authorised by DoFE to sell insurance policies to prospective migrant workers

• Commercial Banks
• Money Transfer Agencies
• Savings and Credits
Groups
• Family/ Friends loans
• Local Money lenders
• Hundi

53%
7%
2% 3% 2%
7%
26%
Own Savings
Sale of Assets
Help from family members in Nepal
Help from family members abroad
Loan from friends, relatives
Bank loan
Loan from village merchants, etc.
Source: NMS 2009 as illustrated in World Bank, Large-Scale Migration and Remittance in Nepal, 2011

9%
4% 4% 6% 4%
73%
Brought himself/herself
Through friends, relatives
Through hundi
Through money transfer companies
Transfer to own bank account
Transfer to other’s bank account
Source: NMS 2009 as illustrated in World Bank, Large-Scale Migration and Remittance in Nepal, 2011

Decision to
Migrate
• Family /Friends/Community (Social Institutions)
• Agents/Brokers
Migration
Process
• Government Institutions (MoLE, DoFE, FEPB, MoFA,
CTEVT)
• Agents/Brokers/RAs
• Other Private Institutions (Medical, Insurance, Orientation)
Post
Return
• Government Institutions (DoFE, Tribunal, FEPB)
• Private Actors (Brokers, RAs, Insurance)

Demand for Labour
Decision to Migrate
Recruiting Agency
Agent Broker
DoFE Pre-approval
• Preparing Documents
• Purchasing Life Insurance
• Deposit into Welfare Fund
(FEPB)
• Medical examination
Labour Permit from DoFE Departure

Pre-Departure: Challenges and Abuses before leaving Nepal
Lack of
Information/Access
Financing
Migration and
Indebtedness
Broker/Agent/
Recruitment Agency
Issues
Policy and
Bureaucracy

Concentration of relevant government offices in
Kathmandu
• DoFE office only in Kathmandu
• Pre-Departure orientation centers concentrated in Kathmandu valley
• Other pre-departure related services (for instance, mandatory health checkups, insurance, etc.) concentrated in
Kathmandu
Lack of awareness regarding the recruitment process for foreign employment
• Basic procedure for foreign employment
• Max fees to be paid to agency
• Knowledge of various governmental & relevant institutions and their roles (e.g. passport, insurance, medical examination, orientation training, etc.)

High
Migration costs
Many lack collateral to borrow from banks/fina ncial institutions
Forced to borrow from
“informal” sources often times at exorbitant
(often illegal) interest rates
Pre-
Migration indebtedness
Data Source: World Bank, 2011

Agent/Broker
First PoC - Trust factor for potential migrants, ease of access
Often times unregulated
Charge higher fees no accountability
Recruitment Agencies
Illegally overcharging recruitment fees
Contractual Fraud (No Contract;
Counterfeit Contract; Contract in
Foreign Language)
Deceptive practices vis-à-vis
(Nature of Job, Non-existent
“jobs”, Wages and Benefits, Food and Accommodation, Work Hours,
Destination)
Contract in the last minute when “locked in”

Policy bias against women vis-à-vis travel restrictions*
• Must be 30 years of age to migrate for domestic work
• Required to obtain a
“guarantee letter” from the Nepali
Embassy at destination
Bribery (“setting fee”) at the airport to travel without hindrance
• “fee” ranges between US$ 100-
700
Restrictions encouraging
“irregular” migration (via
India)

Post- Departure: Situation of Migrant Workers in
Qatar
Legal
Impediments

• Sponsorship system:
• Workers “tied” to their employer
• “No objection Certificate” (NOC) before changing jobs
• Employer’s permission before leaving the country (“exit permit”)
• Exclusion of certain groups of workers from the
Labour Law
• No right to form or join trade unions
• Labour Court System:
▫ Lengthy trial periods
▫ Fee payment requirement

• Qatar has not ratified 3 of the 8 ILO Core
Conventions (i.e., C087, C098, and C100)
• It has not ratified the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant
Workers and Members of their Families (1990)

• Prevalence of contract substitution, fake contracts, non-native language contracts
▫ “free floating” visas
▫ “waiting period” for a job; on average, migrants waited for 4.82 weeks before securing employment
• Violation of contract terms by the employer
(often with impunity)
• Confiscation of passports by employers

• Physical/sexual/psychological abuse
• Rate of work related injury and work related illness about
25.3% and 45%, respectively
• Withholding pay (often for long periods), non-payment, lower than agreed pay
• Providing sub-standard housing and lodging for employees
• Overtime work without compensation
• Language Barrier
• Lack of information regarding workers’ rights
• Additional plight of domestic workers (e.g. isolation from other workers, often locked in the house, prohibited from contacting family/friends, etc.)

• Lack of awareness regarding
▫ Complaint mechanism at the DoFE
▫ Welfare Fund
▫ Mandatory insurance and the claims mechanism
• Lack of remedial or compensatory mechanism for those with irregular status

• Recruitment agency denial to compensate defrauded migrants
• Inability to secure employer compensation for work injury or death
• Challenges in securing compensation from
Welfare Fund and/or insurance
• Issues with repatriating bodies of the deceased
• Issues with the DoFE grievance mechanism

Total complaints received
Complaints cleared for investigation
2012/13 2013/14
Individual Institutional Individual Institutional
1245 1060 899 1406
202 350 145 272
Cases settled by DoFE
Cases forwarded to the
Foreign Employment
Tribunal
0
164
39
14
0
107
45
5
Source: DoFE as cited in MoLE, 2014

60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
100%
90%
80%
70%
Cases Remaining to be Settled
Cases Settled
2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14
Source: Foreign Employment Tribunal as cited in MoLE, 2014