Lok Sabha Question No. 5592 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-04-04
Subject: Job Assistance Programmes
Ministry: EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: Shri Manickam Tagore B, Shri Vijayakumar Alias Vijay Vasanth

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO- 5592 ANSWERED ON- 04/04/2025 JOB ASSISTANCE PROGRAMMES

## 5592. SHRI MANICKAM TAGORE B SHRI VIJAYAKUMAR ALIAS VIJAY VASANTH

Will the Minister of External Affairs be pleased to state:(a)  whether the Ministry has any specific programs or initiatives to provide job   assistance   and   support   to   Indian   nationals   seeking   employment opportunities abroad; (b)   if   so,   the   details   of   these   programs,   including   their   objectives, implementation mechanisms, and areas of focus; (c)    the number of  Indian nationals who have benefited from these job assistance programmes over the last five years including country-wise data and specific sectors in which these jobs were secured;

(d) the number of  job fairs, recruitment drives, or other similar events organized by the Ministry in collaboration with foreign Governments or international employers to increase job opportunities for Indian nationals in the last five years; and

(e)   whether   the   Government   has   any   collaboration   with   foreign Governments to ensure the welfare, legal rights, and safety of  Indian workers employed abroad and if  so, the number of  cases where such assistance was provided during the last five years?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS (SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)

(a)   to   (e) The   Government   has   been   working   towards   establishing institutional mechanisms to foster the global mobility of Indian workers as well as students, academicians, researchers, business persons etc. The Government   has   been   proactively   furthering   the   mobility   for   Indian workforce   through   diverse   MoUs/agreements   such   as,   Migration   and Mobility Partnerships, Labour mobility and Labour Welfare with destination countries. Agreements/MoUs on Migration and Mobility Partnership have

been signed with Austria, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Denmark and UK.   Labour   Mobility   Agreements   have   been   signed   with   Japan, Portugal, Taiwan, Mauritius, Israel and Malaysia.

Additionally, Labour and Manpower Cooperation Agreements have been signed with the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC), like Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE and with Jordan, that provide overarching framework for cooperation on labour and manpower issues. To safeguard the specific interest of domestic workers of the GCC countries, who are often in the most vulnerable category, the Ministry has signed separate MoUs and Agreements with Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait.

The   process   of   overseas   employment   of   Indian   nationals   holding Emigration Check Required (ECR) passports and emigrating to any of the 18 notified ECR countries is done through e-Migrate portal. The web-based application makes the process of emigration fully digital, transparent, safe, legal, humane, efficient, convenient, and faster. It seamlessly brings all stakeholders,   including   Foreign   Employers   (FEs),   registered   Recruiting Agents (RAs) and the prospective emigrants on a common platform and enables MEA to capture comprehensive and online database. A dedicated

helpline and support system is also available to assist emigrants and other stakeholders to address any query/issue. The advisories/alerts on fake job offers and fraudulent/illegal recruitment agencies are hosted on the portal. Till February 2025, a total of 3,281 illegal agents in country have been notified on the eMigrate portal.

An updated, revamped and user friendly eMigrate-V2.0 portal was launched on   14   October   2024.   The   revamped   portal   has   been   integrated   with DigiLocker to provide for storage and access by users of documents across the world; Common Services Centers (CSC) to enable delivery of emigration related services through its network of over 5 lakh centers across the country;   UMANG   for   providing access   to   pan-India   e-Gov   services; BHASHINI to enable access to information in regional languages; SBIePay for   provisioning   of   an   additional   digital   payment   gateway   with   zero transaction charges; Bureau of Immigration for seamless and hassle free travel of emigrants; Passport Seva Portal for e-verification of Passports, insurance   companies   for   procurement   of   mandatory   PBBY   policy   etc., among others. The eMigrate Mobile App has also been developed for the first time and is available on Google Play Store and Government App Store. The App allows the stakeholders to have easy access to major services

available on the portal, including tracking of application status, obtaining list   of   registered   as   well   as   unregistered   recruiting   agents,   filing grievances etc.

These skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers are employed in various sectors like construction, oil & gas, food and beverage industry, hospitality,   retail,   housekeeping,   domestic   works,   warehousing   and logistics,   healthcare,   engineering,   IT,   finance,   farming,   manufacturing, transport, port and shipping, tourism, mining, education, wholesale, retail, automobiles,   domestic   works   such   as   plumbers,   electricians,   drivers, maids, cleaners, and cooks etc.

The year-wise and country-wise details of emigration clearances granted through E-migrate portal to Indian emigrants for employment with foreign entities during 2020-2025 (01.01.2020 to 26.03.2025) are given below:

| Country      | 2020   | 2021   | 2022   | 2023   | 2024   | 2025   |
|--------------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
| SAUDI ARABIA | 44316  | 32845  | 178622 | 200713 | 167598 | 37575  |
| UNITED ARAB  | 17891  | 10844  | 33233  | 71688  | 111308 | 46486  |
| EMIRATES     |        |        |        |        |        |        |

| QATAR       |   8907 |   49579 |   30871 |   30683 |   23785 |   4987 |
|-------------|--------|---------|---------|---------|---------|--------|
| KUWAIT      |   8107 |   10158 |   71432 |   48212 |   39862 |  12680 |
| OMAN        |   7206 |   19453 |   31994 |   21336 |   24258 |   5615 |
| BAHRAIN     |   4175 |    6383 |   10232 |    7376 |    8607 |   1814 |
| MALAYSIA    |   2435 |      36 |   12836 |   15319 |    5606 |   1348 |
| IRAQ        |    759 |     935 |    1430 |    1599 |    2761 |    454 |
| JORDAN      |    317 |    2386 |    2487 |    1187 |    3137 |    468 |
| LEBANON     |     21 |      54 |     282 |     200 |     130 |      2 |
| THAILAND    |     10 |       1 |       3 |       4 |      10 |      0 |
| INDONESIA   |      1 |       0 |       3 |       0 |       3 |      7 |
| SOUTH SUDAN |      0 |       1 |       1 |       0 |       0 |     19 |
| SUDAN       |      0 |       0 |       0 |       0 |       2 |      0 |

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