Qatar is willing to take as many as 180,000 Nepali workers this year, though there has been a demand for diversifying the source of the expatriate workforce in the country, according to a news website.

Kathmandu-based E-Kantipur.com, quoting the Nepali embassy in Doha, said the Qatari government has allocated 180,000 jobs for Nepali workers this year “amid pressures from local recruitment companies to prioritise workers from other countries”.

Qatari companies have reportedly been pressing the government to seek alternatives to hiring Nepali workers due to the lengthy and tough process involved, the daily said.

“The Qatari government has allocated 180,000 quotas to Nepal. Nepali workers can fly to Qatar for employment if the Nepal government carries out due processes,” said acting Nepali ambassador to Qatar Ganesh Dhakal. He said the Qatari government had “highly prioritised Nepali workers due to their hard work, integrity and discipline”.

According to Kantipur, the embassy has started providing approval to companies offering a minimum monthly salary of QR1,200 and food to initiate the hiring process.

“Addressing a UN conference recently, Qatar’s Minister for Development Planning and Statistics HE Dr Saleh Mohamed Salem al-Nabit, said that his government would hire around 250,000 migrant workers this year.

“As the construction for the infrastructure for the World Cup 2022 is under way in Qatar, officials of Qatari Labour Ministry have been urging their Nepali counterparts to facilitate the supply of Nepali workers,” the e-paper said.

“We have highly prioritised Nepali workers. However, the process to hire them is very lengthy and tough. We have expected help from the Nepal government in this regard,” the paper quoted high-level officials of the Qatari ministry as telling a Nepali delegation led by Surya Prasad Shrestha, under-secretary at the ministry of labour and employment that visited the country recently.

“Qatar’s Minister of Labour and Social Affairs HE Abdullah Saleh Mubarak al-Khulaifi, during his meeting with the then Nepali Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, had expressed similar views.

“The Nepal government, however, failed to supply workers to Qatar as per the allocated quota last year,” the report said.

According to the embassy, there are around 400,000 Nepali workers in Qatar.

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