The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has started handing out labour permits from one more province, the Gandaki Province, from Thursday, making the number of provinces that provide re-entry work permits to three.

The permit will be handed out from Pokhara, the headquarters of the Gandaki Province.

The labour and employment office in the Gandaki province will provide various services related to foreign employment to migrant workers of the region.

“As part of decentralising our services, we have begun distributing services like issuing re-entry labour permits from the provinces,” said labour ministry’s spokesperson Narayan Regmi.

Last month, the government had started to issue re-entry labour permits from Janakpur of Province 2 and Butwal of Province 5, giving much needed respite to the migrant workers who have returned after their first job stint in a foreign country.

With the operation of a labour office in the different provinces, aspiring migrant workers from the Gandaki Province now not need visit the Capital and wait in long lines before the Foreign Employment Office at Tahachal, Kathmandu, to get their permits.

“By offering these services at the provincial level, we are reducing the hassle a worker has to go through. This will help lessen their financial burden as well. Now they can visit the office and get the re-entry permit at their convenience,” added Regmi.

Like other labour and employment offices, the new office in Gandaki Province will monitor recruiting agencies (and their activities) and pre-departure training and orientation centres, and circulate information on foreign employment, safer labour migration and employment opportunities inside the country. Labour ministry spokesperson Regmi said that the previously opened labour offices in Province 2 and Province 5 have been catering to the needs of beneficiaries and receiving positive responses from visitors.

As part of offering similar services from outside the Capital, the labour ministry had decided to provide most of the foreign employment services from all the seven provinces. Labour and employment offices have been

established in all provinces, but not all of them have started issuing re-entry labour permits yet.

 “The offices in the remaining provinces will start providing services within this month,” added Regmi.