The Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) has said it will not renew the licences of manpower agencies that fail to settle outstanding complaints, effectively barring them from sending migrant workers abroad from July 17.

The department said the measure aims to clear a backlog of complaints that has accumulated over the years.

“The department wants to conclude investigations and legal proceedings as quickly as possible,” said Meera Acharya, director general of the DoFE. “This is the licence renewal season. If a company fails to settle its pending complaints during this period, its licence will not be renewed.”

The department has already informed recruitment agencies of the decision.

According to the DoFE, around 44,000 institutional and individual complaints dating back to 2000 remain unresolved, with most filed against individual brokers.

Under the existing system, many workers migrate through individual labour permits without using licensed recruitment agencies. When they are cheated, they file complaints against individual agents, making such cases the department’s biggest enforcement challenge. Cases that cannot be resolved through mediation are referred to the Foreign Employment Tribunal.

The department is categorising complaints to identify agencies with the highest number of grievances.

“We have separated complaints filed before 2023 from those filed afterwards and are processing them through public notices,” Acharya said. “Evidence collection is under way, and the policy is being implemented strictly.”

Most complaints involve charging recruitment fees above the legal limit, breach of contract, non-payment of wages and workers being assigned jobs different from those promised. When complaints are verified, compensation is deducted from the cash deposits and bank guarantees, ranging from Rs20 million to Rs60 million, that recruitment agencies are required to maintain with the department.

The DoFE said it is also enforcing legal provisions on worker compensation more strictly.

“The law is clear. If a manpower company is found to have overcharged even one worker, it faces a fine of Rs50,000 for each worker. If 100 workers are overcharged, the fine reaches Rs5 million,” Acharya said. “This has encouraged manpower companies to appear before the department and settle complaints.”

The department aims to clear all pending cases involving registered recruitment agencies by July 17, before introducing a new complaint management system. It is also preparing a separate mechanism to deal with newly registered complaints.

“The department does not have the capacity to investigate every dispute,” Acharya said. “We are working to refer complex cases to specialised agencies with greater expertise. From July 17, investigations, compensation and rescue operations will all be handled under the new system.”

The DoFE has also directed recruitment agencies to regularly monitor the welfare of workers they send abroad and submit progress reports every three months.

The directive follows repeated complaints of employers violating employment contracts, withholding wages and benefits, providing unsafe or substandard accommodation, and assigning workers to jobs other than those specified in their contracts.

“The Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers has directed the department to safeguard the rights, interests, safety and labour rights of Nepali migrant workers,” the DoFE said. “Licensed recruitment agencies must regularly and transparently monitor the status of every worker and group they deploy overseas.”

The department said that if workers face problems or contract violations abroad, the responsible recruitment agency must immediately begin the process of resolving the issue. In emergencies requiring a worker's repatriation or rescue, agencies must coordinate promptly with the relevant authorities to ensure timely assistance and compensation.