The government is preparing to issue operating license to new foreign employment agencies, which was halted one year ago.

The Ministry of Labour is currently drafting new guidelines to resume the licensing process along with establishing strict monitoring standards.

The provisions being mulled are stiffer rules for new registration and renewal, penalty for fraudulent companies and monitoring and regulation of existing companies, among others.

Buddhi Bahadur Khadka, spokesperson for the ministry, said that the guideline was expected to incorporate more strict provisions and criteria without crossing the boundary set by Foreign Employment Act-2007.

Following increasing complaints about anomalies and fraudulent activities in the foreign employment sector, the government had directed the ministry not to register new manpower companies without developing a strict monitoring standard.

Currently, there are 1,059 manpower companies authorised to send workers to more than 100 countries.

However, the umbrella organisation of manpower companies, Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies, has presented its reservations over some points in the draft guidelines. nepalnews.com