Govt readies guidelines to send interns to Japan

KATHMANDU, Nov 2: The government has readied guidelines on internship of Nepali industrial trainees to Japan, making it mandatory for concerned sending agencies to send back the interns after completion of their intern period to discourage overstays in Japan. [break]

Agencies will have to return interns from Japan

Agencies can open liaison offices in Japan

Interns should be between 18-40 years with experience of two years

Labor minister will lead high-level panel to monitor sending process

Nepali Embassy will coordinate with JITCO and other Japanese firms

Agencies will have to furnish additional deposits

Nepal signed agreements with Japan International Training Cooperation (JITCO) to send Nepali interns to work in Japanese enterprises through Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) in 2003. It signed another agreement in 2008, paving the way for Nepali manpower agencies to send industrial trainees to Japan. The government has designated 171 manpower agencies and FNCCI to undertake the internship process.

The Ministry of Labor and Transport Management (MoLTM) has sent the draft to stakeholders, including Nepali manpower agencies, to seek their inputs for the guidelines.

According to the draft guidelines, concerned manpower agencies will have to conduct selection process as per the quotas of interns provided by JITCO and make written agreements with interns to make sure that they would return after completing their internship in Japanese enterprises. Nepali manpower agencies will face punishment if they fail to bring back the interns they sent to Japan. The agents will have to immediately inform the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) if any intern moves to other business enterprises in an unauthorized way and make necessary arrangement to bring them back.

“The draft will be finalized after receiving inputs from stakeholders by Wednesday,” Babu Ram Acharya, secretary at MoLTM, told myrepublica.com.

As per the proposed provision, concerned manpower agencies will have to put additional amount as deposits, besides their regular deposit of Rs 3 million, to make easy for the government to recover compensation from concerned manpower agencies if they are found to involve in foul play.

The draft has also prescribed minimum requirements for the interns. The interns must be between 18 to 40 years and should have two years of working experience in industries, hotel, agriculture enterprises and agriculture cooperatives among other sectors. The draft also includes a provision of providing training on Japanese language and information about Japanese culture and existing legal provision to the interns.

The proposed guidelines also allow Nepali manpower agencies to open their liaison offices in Japan to deal with different problems during the stay of interns in Japan and to promote their business there.

Similarly, Nepali Embassy in Tokyo has been made responsible to forge cooperation with JITCO and other concerned institutions to streamline the internship process of Nepali workers.

“Under the proposed provision, concerned agencies will have to certify the documents about the demand of interns through JITCO from the Nepali mission,” a MoLTM source told myrepublica.com.

According to the proposed guidelines, sending agencies will have to bear expenses for pre-departure training, health check, insurance charge and contribution to Foreign Employment Welfare Fund.

The draft also envisages opening a high-level panel led by Minister for Labor and Transport Management to establish effective mechanism in sending Nepali interns to Japan. Secretaries of Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Employment and Ministry of Industries will be the members in the panel. MoLTM secretary will be the member secretary in the panel.

prabhakar@myrepublica.com