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| Sunday, 10 October 2004 |
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ME job seekers to get passports through ALFEA by Ananda Kannangara The cost of Rs. 2,000 paid for passports by Sri Lankan migrant workers seeking employment in the Middle Eastern countries in future will be borne by the Association of Licensed Foreign Employment Agencies (ALFEA) under a special program to be implemented from December 01. This novel program will be carried out in collaboration with the Department of Immigration and Emigration and the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE). The obtaining of passports will thereafter be directly handled by the ALFEA with the Department. "Under such situation, no migrant workers, seeking jobs in the Middle Eastern countries will be permitted to obtain their passports individually at the Immigration and Emigration Department Head Office in Bambalapitiya," Controller of Immigration and Emigration E. Jinadasa said. He said persons who find jobs in the Middle Eastern countries through their relatives too will have to get themselves registered with employment agencies and obtain passports from the Department through the ALFEA. It is said that nearly 1,200 persons come to the Department each day to obtain passports of which 60 per cent obtain them to go to the Middle East for jobs. President, ALFEA Suraj D. Dandeniya said the pathetic situation, faced by the workers who come to obtain their passports at the Department premises throughout the day, prompted them to initiate such a program. Asked what benefits the ALFEA will reap from introducing such a scheme, Dandeniya said that the money spent by their organisation on passports of migrant workers will be charged back from their foreign employers. SLBFE Chairman, Karunasena Hettiarachchi said that under this novel program, no migrant workers can slip the country without the knowledge of the Bureau. |
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