TIA immigration remains pain for migrant workers

KATHMANDU, FEB 09 - Rita Thapa (name changed) of Khartali-4 Sindhupalchok was returning from Saudi Arabia on January 8 when she was arrested at the Tribhuvan International Airport ( TIA ) for travelling on a forged passport. She was later released after ‘paying’ Rs 3,000 to the immigration officials.

According to sources, Thapa is one of 20 women the Immigration Department exploits every day for alleged use of a forged passport. Only a few of these women are ever handed over to the courts. They get doubly exploited, by both employers in foreign countries and by bureaucrats back home.

Despite facing legal proceedings and severe public criticism for its corrupt service, the immigration terminal at TIA continues to exploit migrant labourers, often targeting females.

Every day immigration officials exploit dozens of returnees through the arbitrary settlement of cases which should fall under the jurisdiction of the police and courts. Most of these cases involve alleged passport forgery.

According to the Immigration Department, some 500 cases of passport forgery have been reported in the last one year, involving mainly women. Many more are informally settled.

A report published by the National Vigilance Centre concerning corruption in the foreign employment sector shows that officials at the Department of Immigration and TIA labour desk under the DoFE pocket Rs 2 million in bribes each day.

The report was handed over to the Commission for Investigation of the Abuse of Authority (CIAA) and the then Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office, Lilamani Pokharel.

Last year, a high-level panel on violence against women had urged the government to strengthen pre-departure surveillance instead of troubling the returned workers who are usually victims of ‘fraudulent agents’. The report had also recommended the government install more close-circuit cameras and bar immigration officials from using cell phones to discourage ‘airport setting’.

Setting is a term used to describe the nexus of dishonest airport staff who ensure safe passage for workers holding illegal documents. These staff members are usually under the influence of agents or recruiting agencies.

In most of the cases, workers are not even aware that they are holding fake passports or other documents.

The recommendation, however, has been gathering dust in the PMO.

Officials at Nepal Association of the Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA), an umbrella organisation of recruiting agencies in Nepal, say that airport staff demand bribes even when migrant labourers follow legal procedures. Some 300 workers bound for the United Arab Emirates were refused passage by airport staff on December 2, with officials demanding extra documentation from the workers. Some of those stranded, as well as their recruiting agencies, told the Post that immigration officials had initially demanded money.

“The problem is becoming so serious that women are forced to resort to airport setting even to return to Nepal. I myself witnessed an incident just a week ago,” says NAFEA Chairman Bal Bahadur Tamang. Officials at the Immigration Department, however, claim that conditions have improved, especially after the Sita Rai incident and the CIAA crackdown.

“It’s improper to raise fingers against the whole institution just because one or two officials are corrupt. We have been doing everything possible to ensure transparency and maintain professional dignity,” says Kamal Bhattarai, spokesperson for the Immigration Department.

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