Login

Forget Password?
Login With Facebook
Don't Have An Account? Sign Up

Sign Up

Already Have An Account? Login
Read Our Privacy Policy
Back to Login
  • National
  • Politics
  • Valley
  • Opinion
  • Money
  • Sports
  • Culture & Lifestyle

  • National
    • Madhesh Province
    • Lumbini Province
    • Bagmati Province
    • National Security
    • Koshi Province
    • Gandaki Province
    • Karnali Province
    • Sudurpaschim Province
  • Politics
  • Valley
    • Kathmandu
    • Lalitpur
    • Bhaktapur
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • As it is
    • Letters
    • Editorial
    • Cartoon
  • Money
  • Sports
    • Cricket
    • Football
    • International Sports
  • Culture & Lifestyle
    • Arts
    • Brunch with the Post
    • Movies
    • Life & Style
    • Theater
    • Entertainment
    • Books
    • Fashion
  • Health
  • Food
    • Recipes
  • Travel
  • Investigations
  • Climate & Environment
  • World
  • Science & Technology
  • Interviews
  • Visual Stories
  • Crosswords & Sudoku
  • Horoscope
  • Forex
  • Corrections
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Today's ePaper
Friday, August 15, 2025

Without Fear or FavourUNWIND IN STYLE

28.69°C Kathmandu
Air Quality in Kathmandu: 58
300+Hazardous
0-50Good
51-100Moderate
101-150Unhealty for Sensitive Groups
151-200Unhealthy
201-300Very Unhealthy
Fri, Aug 15, 2025
28.69°C Kathmandu
Air Quality in Kathmandu: 58
  • What's News :

  • Paddy prices rise
  • Load Shedding
  • Oli attening SCO in China
  • Mental health
  • 10,000 street dogs sterilization
  • Guitarist world tour

National

Nearly 20,000 illegal Nepali workers in Malaysia can return home as local authorities announce general amnesty

Last year nearly 15,000 undocumented workers had used a similar scheme to avoid legal actions from the Malaysian government. Nearly 20,000 illegal Nepali workers in Malaysia can return home as local authorities announce general amnesty
File photo of migrant workers at Tribhuvan International Airport.  
bookmark
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • Whatsapp
  • mail
Chandan Kumar Mandal
Published at : July 21, 2019
Updated at : July 21, 2019 09:59

Thousands of Nepali migrant workers, who have violated immigration rules in Malaysia and are liable to legal action, will be able to return home because the Malaysian government has announced a general amnesty scheme for undocumented foreigners.

The five-month-long amnesty scheme—called Program Back for Good—will provide illegal foreigners, including thousands of Nepali workers, an opportunity to return to their respective home countries before the Malaysian government cracks down on them and makes arrests.

An estimated 15,000-20,000 Nepali migrant workers who are overstaying their visit or are living without valid documents in Malaysia can make use of the latest amnesty.

“There is no exact data on the number of Nepali workers who have overstayed in Malaysia; however, this amnesty is a good opportunity for them to utilise the scheme and return to Nepal,” Maheshwar Mani Tripathi, second secretary at the Embassy of Nepal in Malaysia, told the Post over the phone. “We encourage them to take this amnesty and return home.”

As per Malaysian rules, foreign workers with expired visas and those absconding from their original employers and working elsewhere without valid work permits are termed illegal.

The amnesty will be applicable from August 1 to December 31.

To avail of the scheme, undocumented foreigners will have to pay Malaysian Ringgit 700 (equivalent Rs18, 737) in fine and get the special exit pass from the Malaysian Immigration Department.

Nepali workers without any valid documents or passports will have to first get the one-way travel document from the Nepal Embassy after paying Ringgit 160. “The embassy will issue the travel document, but the worker will have to bear the airfare cost themselves,” added Tripathi.

In the past, the Malaysian authorities had launched a massive crackdown on illegal foreigners in the country. Hundreds of Nepali workers had been arrested from various parts of the country. Over the years, Malaysia has remained one of the top destinations for Nepali migrant workers. However, workers turning undocumented had been a cause of concern for the embassy and the employers that hire workers.

According to the Malaysian Immigration Department statistics, there were 385,000 documented Nepali workers as of July 2018. The department had also estimated more than 1.7 million foreigners legally working in Malaysia during the same period.

“There is no third party or outsourcing company involved this time. The immigration department will set up 80 counters across the country where applicants can register for repatriation under the amnesty,” Tripathi said.

The Malaysian government had iterated on many occasions in the past that there would not be another similar amnesty for expatriates violating the country’s immigration laws after the previous amnesty expired in July last year.

During the previous Voluntary Deportation Programme, also called 3-plus-1 programme, Malaysia had given options to illegal immigrants to either avoid legal actions by choosing to return to their home countries or obtain legal status through the rehiring programme.

The amnesty had also permitted undocumented workers, who could not rejoin their workplace or failed to find a new employer, to leave the country by August 30 last year without facing any legal actions. This year, however, illegal immigrants will be blacklisted and barred from entering Malaysia for an indefinite period.

Thousands of Nepali workers had availed the amnesty last year. According to the Nepal Embassy, nearly 15,000 illegal Nepali workers had used the amnesty last year. The Malaysian government could repatriate a total of 840,000 illegal immigrants during the last year’s amnesty.

What do you think?

Dear reader, we’d like to hear from you. We regularly publish letters to the editor on contemporary issues or direct responses to something the Post has recently published. Please send your letters to tkpoped@kmg.com.np with "Letter to the Editor" in the subject line. Please include your name, location, and a contact address so one of our editors can reach out to you.


Chandan Kumar Mandal

Chandan Kumar Mandal was the environment and migration reporter for The Kathmandu Post, covering labour migration and governance, as well as climate change, natural disasters, and wildlife.


Related News

Justices divided over how to form Constitutional Bench
Load-shedding allegations continue to haunt government
Toll rates set for first road tunnel in Nepal, motorcycles barred
Kathmandu to sterilise over 10,000 street dogs this year
Two boys drown while swimming in public pond in Kapilvastu
CIAA files corruption case against tourism department director Yadav

Most Read from National

USAID closure harms pro-democracy development efforts in Nepal
Over 61 percent of students pass Grade 12 exams
MCC deputy vice president in Nepal as US aid resumes
Misri visiting Nepal to set stage for PM Oli’s India trip
Counter-intelligence wing to be set up under new Nepal law

Editor's Picks

Students say they are abused under guise of discipline at a Kathmandu school
Exploring ‘forbidden’ hours: Women assert access to public space with midnight walks
Nepali women being sent to Hong Kong on fake Indian IDs
Bitter husband-wife rift throws Nagarik Unmukti Party into chaos
Drought-hit farmers die hooking wires to mains for irrigation

E-PAPER | August 15, 2025

  • Read ePaper Online
×
ABOUT US
  • About the Post
  • Masthead
  • Editorial Standards & Integrity
  • Workplace Harassment Policy
  • Privacy Policy
READ US
  • Home Delivery
  • ePaper
CONTACT US
  • Write for the Post
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Advertise in the Post
  • Work for the Post
  • Send us a tip
INTERACT WITH US
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
OUR SISTER PUBLICATIONS
  • eKantipur
  • saptahik
  • Nepal
  • Nari
  • Radio Kantipur
  • Kantipur TV
© 2025 www.kathmandupost.com
  • Privacy Policy
Top