Instead of leaving the country, Nepali workers, who have overstayed their visas, have been pressuring officials at Nepali embassy in Korea to legalize their stay in the booming East Asian economy. [break]
“Korean officials want undocumented Nepalis to voluntarily exit the country -- a provision under which the workers won´t be considered disqualified to get Korean visa in future. So, we urged them to voluntarily leave the country at the earliest,” Babu Ram Acharya, secretary at MoLTM told myrepublica.com on Sunday. He further informed that MoLTM was seeking diplomatic initiatives to bring back the overstaying workers, considering the adverse impact that their illegal stay would make on employment opportunities for Nepalis under the Employment Permit System (EPS).
“About 2,500 of around 8,000 Nepali workers in Korea are overstaying their visas,” Acharya, who met with senior Korean officials during his recent visit to Korea, said.
A high-level Nepali delegation led by Labor Minister Mohammad Aftab Alam was recently in Korea to renew existing labor agreement under the EPS for another two years.
“It is embarrassing to note that overstaying workers are putting pressure on embassy officials and are organizing different activities to legalize their stay. Such activities would tarnish Nepal´s image as a labor-sending country,” Acharya said.
The Korean government recently awarded Nepal as the best sending county, recognizing the latter´s effective sending process in 2009, under the EPS. Korea has signed labor pacts with 15 countries to receive workers under the EPS that permits Korean employers to recruit foreign workers to fulfill the demand for workers.
South Korea launched a massive campaign to evict overstaying migrant workers in October and November last year. The move is expected to affect over 3,000 Nepali workers. Various Korean labor rights groups have protested the move.
The Korean government had also sent some workers who did not have legal documents to detention centers.
Korea´s Ministry of Law had the month of September [2009] as grace period of voluntary exit for migrant workers. It had urged the overstaying foreign workers to return to their home country ahead of the planned crackdown. After the expiry of the grace period, the Labor Ministry and Federation of Korea Small and Middle Entrepreneurs´ Association and Korean Law Ministry had carried out crackdown in areas dominated by migrant workers. The Korean government had also decided to impose a penalty of $1,700 and suspend the license of companies employing illegal migrants for three years. During the two-month-long campaign, more than two dozen Nepali workers were arrested and deported to Nepal.
However, Korea later announced that it would waive penalty for overstaying workers and allow them to enter the country a year after their departures, if workers voluntarily exit the country.
Most of the Nepali workers, who are overstaying their visas, are taking refuge at religious sites, labor shelters and moving to different places to avoid security personnel.
prabhakar@myrepublica.com
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