Sub foreign job agents to be registered

Rasika Somarathna

The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) will register all sub foreign employment agents who direct people to licensed overseas manpower recruitment offices. They are to be registered under licensed foreign employment agencies as overseas employment promotion officers. Details of registered sub agents should be submitted to the SLBFE.

The SLBFE will take legal action against any unregistered sub agent engaged in unauthorised promotions, SLBFE chairman Kingsley Ranawaka said. According to new regulations, registered foreign employment promotion officers can only work under one agency. They are not allowed to keep the job seekers’ passports in their possession, engage in financial dealings or maintain their own office premises.

If the promotion officers desire to change the employment agents they work for, he or she should give prior notice to the SLBFE through the relevant agency. The SLBFE is also planning to provide an identity card for job promotion assistants.

Sub foreign employment agents have been found to be behind a large number of malpractices involving migrant worker hopefuls in Sri Lanka.

SLBFE Chief Kingsley Ranawaka who spoke to licensed foreign employment recruiters on the issue recently, said that the move would pave way for greater transparency and would help reduce malpractices.

He also urged agents to make use of the IT facilities which have been made available to them for recruitment to enhance efficiency.