The Bureau of Foreign Employment is a specialized service provider in the country. The media recently reported that the company was being shut down due to a lack of funds to pay salaries. The Bureau of Foreign Employment often relied on migrant workers. With this news, they became very anxious. That is because they will lose the only state institution that was supposed to represent them.
However, Piyankara Jayaratne, Minister of State for Foreign Employment Promotion and Market Diversification says that the Bureau of Foreign Employment will never be closed down.
He said that although various social media outlets had published false news that the Bureau was about to close down, there was no truth in it and neither the President nor the Prime Minister was in a position to close the Bureau.
He was speaking at a discussion with the owners of foreign employment agencies in the Western Province at the Bureau of Foreign Employment yesterday. This was organized to discuss the problems of foreign employment agencies that have been embarrassed by the recession caused by the Kovid epidemic. Owners of foreign employment agencies presented 34 proposals to the Minister of State, including a proposal to obtain loans from the government at 4% interest to maintain financially distressed employment agencies.
Speaking further the Minister said that as different criteria are used to submit the family background report, in the future the same criteria will be published which will affect all the Divisional Secretariats. He said that this would facilitate employment agencies as well as foreign workers.
He said that there were various rackets in sending people for foreign employment and that the racket of sending workers for employment through tourist visas would be stopped soon and the law would be enforced against those involved.