By Marianne David Courtesy The Morning

• Focus on sending skilled workers for foreign jobs
• Working to prevent human trafficking, smuggling
• Expects foreign remittances to increase this year
• Benefits introduced to encourage remittances
• Upskilling domestic aides as housekeepers
• New foreign employment markets identified
• Now digitising foreign employment sector

While Sri Lanka recorded the highest-ever number of people migrating for work last year, the focus this year is not on achieving large numbers of expatriate workers but sending skilled workers for foreign jobs and making 2023 the most beneficial year for expatriate workers, said Labour and Foreign Employment Minister Manusha Nanayakkara, in an interview with The Sunday Morning.

He also noted that foreign remittances were expected to rise this year, while outlining steps taken to encourage remittances through official channels. The Minister revealed that despite the perception that Sri Lanka was only sending women for foreign jobs, this was wrong as the majority of those leaving for work were men.

The Labour and Foreign Employment Ministry has also identified new foreign employment markets and is working on opening up job opportunities, including in Japan and Romania. Nanayakkara said the ministry was actively contributing to the prevention of human trafficking and human smuggling and working with many ministries and departments to tackle the issue.

Following are excerpts of the interview:

Last year some 311,000 people left for jobs in foreign countries, which is a record. What are the expectations this year when it comes to labour migration?

When I took over this ministry, the outflow of workers to foreign countries had slowed. The sending of workers for Korean jobs had stopped. As soon as I took over this ministry, I discussed with the Human Resources Department of Korea and was able to resume sending workers for Korean jobs.

We also prepared and implemented short-term and long-term plans to get new job opportunities for our workers in foreign countries. That is why we were able to make last year the year in which the largest number of workers were sent to foreign countries.

We were able to achieve this because we worked with a goal and a plan. On the surface, it could be seen that last year was the year when the largest number of workers left for foreign jobs, but there was a lot of commitment and effort behind the scenes to achieve it.

This year, there are two things that are getting more attention than sending more people for foreign jobs. That is sending more skilled workers for foreign jobs. The other important point is to make this year the most beneficial year for the expatriate worker.

Why is this not reflected in remittances, which show only a marginal increase?

As over 300,000 people left for foreign jobs in 2022, we expect foreign remittances to increase this year. When I took over this ministry, monthly foreign exchange revenue had reduced to around $ 200 million per month. The amount of foreign exchange that was received earlier was $ 600-700 million per month.

There were several reasons for the limitation of foreign exchange earnings from our migrant workers. One is how our migrant workers were treated. I don’t have to remind you how they were treated during the Covid period. Some people extorted money from our migrant workers while providing quarantine facilities at exorbitant rates. Migrant workers were looked at as human bombs. Given this, our workers in foreign countries were hurt and they limited the sending of money back home.

The other thing is, because of the wrong decisions taken with regard to the economy, foreign workers started to remit money through illegal methods such as undial. Due to receiving more rupees through undial rather than through the banking system, they had chosen such methods. As a result, remittances from workers using official channels, like the banking system, diminished.

However, we have changed these conditions. The gap between money paid for remittances through undial and banks has been reduced. Therefore, it is possible to increase foreign revenue by way of remittances from migrant workers.

Also, the benefits received by expatriate workers when sending money through the legal system have been increased. A licence to import an electric vehicle was given based on the amount of money sent by workers. The long-awaited pension scheme for migrant workers was started. We also arranged to provide housing loans for our migrant workers. Thus, with such efforts, we were able to increase remittances.

Last June, when I took over this ministry, we received only $ 242 million as remittances. By July, it had risen to $ 279 million. It was possible to raise the amount to $ 325 million by August and $ 359 million by September. This went further up to $ 355 million in October and to $ 384 million in November. It is a 42% increase compared to the corresponding month last year. 

Looking at these statistics, it can be seen that we were able to increase our foreign remittances relatively. We expect that with the concessions we provide, we will be able to further increase foreign remittances in the future.

What programmes have been initiated to encourage Sri Lankan migrant workers to remit through legal channels and how effective have they been?

As I mentioned before, two months after I took over the ministry, we introduced a system where permission was given for migrant workers to import an electric vehicle with CF value equal to half of the amount they have remitted using legal channels. A special permit was granted. The necessary Cabinet approval was obtained to increase the duty concession at the airport.

A special entry gate (Hope Gate) was introduced at the airport to give due respect to the workers going abroad and returning to Sri Lanka. We were able to introduce the long-awaited pension scheme for expatriate workers. All this was done to give the necessary encouragement to foreign workers to send money through legal methods.

Changes should have taken place in other institutions to provide certain concessions for expatriate workers approved by the Cabinet. The approval of certain ministries should have been received for that, but some State agencies worked very slowly. That is a sad situation.

What is the outlook for remittances this year? Do you believe there will be a significant increase?

Our goal is to bring foreign exchange of $ 1 billion per month to Sri Lanka. Some may think that this is a rather distant goal, but it is not a difficult goal to reach. We will stop sending women to work as domestic aides from this year. Instead, arrangements are being made to send housekeepers. Also, we are working to send skilled workers. We expect that we will be able to get more foreign exchange through it.

In our neighbouring country, India, the amount of remittances received from expatriate workers exceeded $ 100 billion last year. It is regarded as the highest annual income a country has earned from foreign remittances in the world. If India can reach a target like that, then we can reach a target of $ 1 billion per month.

We will not send domestic aides abroad from 1 April. We are working to send housekeepers with training. I expect that this will cause a big revolution in the field of foreign employment. It is not just a case of changing the name of the housemaids and sending them for domestic work. These housekeepers are sent after formal training, with NVQ certificates. We will only send skilled workers after the necessary training. 

Housekeeper is a higher job placement than housemaid. They have better training. It is a job opportunity where you can get a higher salary. Instead of a service category that used to get a salary of $ 300, we are sending workers for a service category that can take a higher salary. That is a big change.

What kind of jobs are Sri Lankans primarily moving for and what are the new markets?

Most of the people who are talking about foreign jobs think that we are only sending women for foreign jobs. That is a wrong perception.

The majority of those who left for foreign jobs last year were men. The number of women is low. Among the workers who left for work last year, there were only 120,000 women. Over 180,000 were male workers while 71,000 people left for domestic work. 

More people left as skilled workers. Over 90,000 skilled workers left for foreign jobs recently. The number of people who left untrained and with minimal training is around 102,000.

We have also identified new foreign employment markets. We are opening up a lot of job opportunities, especially in countries like Japan. We have taken huge steps forward in that direction. Romania is also a new job market we are focusing on.

When Saudi Arabia is mentioned, many people think we are sending only domestic workers. Through the NEOM project in Saudi Arabia, we are working to get jobs in the construction industry and job opportunities for professionals.

How is the Sri Lankan Government dealing with human trafficking? What steps has your ministry taken so far?

Our ministry is actively contributing to prevent human trafficking and human smuggling. We work closely with the Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Police Department, Immigration Department, and other institutions to prevent human trafficking. A committee has been formed by bringing these institutions together to take the necessary steps.

As a Government, we never encourage human trafficking. No opportunity is given for that. We always work to ensure a safe labour migration process and work closely with local institutions as well as international institutions in this regard.

This Government has a clear policy: we do not allow any space for human trafficking. Sometimes we have also identified people who come in the guise of revealing information about human trafficking and engage in human trafficking themselves. They will also be dealt with according to law. Whether they leave by boat or through the airport, we take every possible step to prevent them if they are involved in human trafficking.

When talking about human trafficking, the situation in the Sri Lankan embassies in Oman and Dubai drew everyone’s attention. There are nearly 150 workers in the safe houses of these two embassies. Most of them went to those countries with tourist visas and engaged in work and faced many problems. We have obtained Cabinet approval to bring back the workers from these embassies and are now working accordingly.

In recent times, on three occasions, we brought home workers who were in shelters. Eight people were brought back the first time and on the next two occasions, we brought six more workers. In this way, we are working to bring home all workers in shelters. The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment is also working to take legal action against people who left for foreign jobs on tourist visas and were brought back to Sri Lanka at the expense of the Government.

People cannot work in a foreign country with visit visas; they need to obtain valid employment visas. On the other hand, they have left the country while not mentioning that they are leaving for work; they have committed fraud. If any foreign employment agency is involved in this, we do not think twice about dealing with those agencies in accordance with the law.

Agencies have been given the opportunity to send workers to countries like Dubai on tourist visas on a conditional basis, which means they have to ensure the worker who will be transported to Dubai will be given a job and that they are duly registered.

The relevant agency is responsible for getting a job for that worker and registering them with the Foreign Employment Bureau. We temporarily suspended the licences of 400 organisations that had violated these conditions and removed the ban only after they submitted the relevant information.

We do not condone any person being involved in human trafficking or smuggling. We are not protecting anyone. Bringing foreign exchange to the country through safe labour migration is our only goal.

Why is Sri Lanka still lagging behind in digitising matters related to foreign employment? What steps have been taken to resolve this issue? 

If the field of foreign employment was digitised, we would not have to face the current situation regarding human trafficking. 

When more people are involved in the same thing and there is more human intervention in the same process, more problems and corruption can occur. This also applies to the field of foreign employment. If the work in the field of foreign employment had been digitised, human trafficking would have already been put to an end.

This is why the idea to digitise the foreign employment sector has emerged. When we say that we are digitising, it does not mean that we are working with some computers on the table. It goes beyond that and is a complex process.

When a person in a certain country wants to find another person for work, we want all the related activities to be done on a digital platform. That means if a person from any country hires a worker from Sri Lanka, the job order can be given through this digital system. Then the need to get approval from the embassy to give a job order, pick up the relevant documents, and travel long distances for the purpose will disappear. It becomes possible to do the relevant work in a more formal and diverse manner.

My goal is that by the end of this year, the Foreign Employment Bureau will be able to digitise all its activities. We hope to fully digitise the foreign employment sector by the end of this year. Then, when the foreign employer wants to find one of our workers, they can do it online from there and do all the tasks related to foreign jobs through a digital platform.

How strong is the Foreign Employment Bureau’s presence in key markets serving Sri Lankan migrant workers?

In almost every country where our workers have gone to work abroad, there is a Labour Division with officers from the Foreign Employment Bureau and the Department of Labour. The main positions in these Labour Divisions are held by the officers of the Foreign Employment Bureau. They know this field very well.

However, it has become difficult to send officials to the Labour Departments of the embassies of some countries. Due to a decision taken last year, the appointment of officers to embassies was in a weak state. However, we have obtained the necessary Cabinet approval to send officials to the embassies in countries in which there are many Sri Lankan workers.