In a move dealing away with old practice of counting the migrant workers, the Government of Nepal introduced a new information management system on September 10, 2018 to have a detailed record of returning Nepali migrants.
Operated by the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE), the Foreign Employment Information Management System (FEIMS) will keep detailed records of all migrant workers returning to Nepal for the first time.
“There had been data deficit on the actual number of migrant workers in foreign countries and those returning to Nepal after serving their job contract. The FEIMS will improve the data shortage condition,” says Gokarna Bista, Nepal Labor Minister.
The FEIMS website also has a supporting mobile application along with all the foreign employment and related agencies linked to it on a single platform, which include the Department of Passport, Department of Consular Services, Department of Foreign Employment, Department of Immigration, recruiting agencies, among other key agencies.
The new system also oversees employment verification procedures by Nepali missions at the foreign destinations along with gathering information on workers’ arrivals, informed the Ministry Secretary Mahesh Prasad Dahal.
“The system will provide real-time information and facilitate workers and manpower companies in their respective need. Additionally, it will also register workers’ grievances,” says Dahal.
FIEMS database will have integrated information and services concerning foreign employment at a place with consolidated data from all related agencies.
Now, workers can also apply for labor permits with ease as FIEMS issues a barcode-integrated sticker that will be unique for every application avoiding duplication.
Ease in making insurance payments online, access to medical reports, track the progress of complaints are among other benefits the new system or its mobile application offers, informed the DoFE engineer Raju Shrestha.
“Besides providing services online to recruiting agencies and workers, the system will keep a check on efficiency of government officials. Incidents of files being lost that happened in the past will not happen,” says Shrestha.
Till date, the government was maintaining migrant workers’ data based on the number of work permits issued. However, they realized that wouldn’t be a reliable approach to keep track of Nepali migrants working in foreign destinations.
“We have adopted the latest technology to improve foreign employment sector, making it more transparent and crack down misconduct going on under the cover of foreign employment,” says Bista.
Hope the new system would address discrepancies involving agents, insurance claims, employment, among other concerns haunting Nepali migrant workers.
Read More:
Leave a Reply