Qatar remains the top destination for Nepali migrant workers, despite the ongoing tension in the Gulf.

The number of work permits issued in the last four months of the ongoing fiscal year 2016-17 has put Qatar on top among the countries Nepalis prefer to go for employment. A total of 55,812 work permits— 27,830 institutional and 27,982 individual—were issued for Qatar by the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) in the period. The figure was among 205,184 work permits issued by the DoFE.

“The data available with us has shown that Qatar remains preferred foreign country for Nepali migrant workers. The ongoing blockade that had raised concerns about the foreign workers in the country doesn’t seem to affect its labour demand. The tension after blockade didn’t impact the way we had expected,” said Mohan Adhikari, DoFE spokesperson.

The gas-rich nation, also the host for 2022 Fifa World Cup, was the most popular country among Nepali migrant workers in the last fiscal year as well.  In 2016-17, a total of 125,892 Nepalis had gone to Qatar for employment.

The DoFE has been issuing over 50,000 work permits for Qatar every month.

Meanwhile, Malaysia has also increased the number of Nepali labour intake in the last four months, with the DoFE issuing 49,989 work permits, including 9,839 individual.

“The number of Nepalis going to Malaysia had gone down in the last two years. However, it has started to grow from the end of the last fiscal year,” said Adhikari.

In the fiscal year 2014-15, Malaysia had welcomed 202,828 Nepali workers. The number of Nepalis visiting the country plummeted significantly to 60,979 in 2015-16 before picking up to 98,437 in the last fiscal year.

 “There has been positive signal from Malaysia, which was receiving a significant number of Nepali migrant workers in last few years,” said Adhikari.

The other countries preferred by Nepalis as job destination are the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

 The DoFE has issued 41,569 work permits for the UAE, 35,959 for Saudi Arabia and 8,368 for Kuwait so far this fiscal year. 

Saudi Arabia, which was once the most popular job destination for Nepalis, has gone down in popularity over the past few years. The country had welcomed 138,529 Nepali workers in the fiscal year 2015-16. In the last fiscal year, Saudi Arabia received only 76,888 Nepali workers, the lowers in three years. The situation has hardly improved this fiscal year.

 “Nepalis are not interested to go to Saudi Arabia for employment these days, mainly due to frequent reports about workers getting untimely and low pay,” said Adhikari.

Another Gulf country Kuwait had total 8,368 for its share while rest of the countries had very nominal work-permits in the same period.