'Free Visa, Free Ticket' Policy Explained: Who Pays What

The 'Free Visa, Free Ticket' policy (in Nepali, 'nishulka bhisa, nishulka tikat') is a directive issued by Nepal's Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security (MoLESS, then the Ministry of Labour and Employment) that took effect on 8 July 2015, corresponding to 24 Asadh 2072 in the Bikram Sambat (BS) calendar. Its core idea is simple: the cost of a Nepali worker's employment (or work) visa and the air ticket to the destination country should be borne by the foreign employer who hires them, not by the worker.

The policy responded to a well-documented problem. For years, many Nepalis paid crushing sums, often financed by high-interest loans or the sale of land, just to secure a job abroad. These debts left workers vulnerable to debt bondage, forced labour and trafficking, because a worker who owes hundreds of thousands of rupees cannot easily walk away from an abusive job. By shifting the visa and ticket costs onto the employer and capping what an agency may charge, the directive was meant to bring recruitment costs close to zero for the worker.

It is important to understand that 'Free Visa, Free Ticket' is an administrative directive layered on top of the Foreign Employment Act, 2064 (2007), rather than a standalone law. The Act already prohibits recruitment agencies from charging workers more than a prescribed service charge and sets up the enforcement machinery (the Department of Foreign Employment and the Foreign Employment Tribunal). The 2015 directive tightened the practical limits and named the specific destinations to which the employer-pays rule applies.

The directive applies to seven labour destinations that together account for the overwhelming majority of documented Nepali migrant workers outside India. At the time it was introduced, these seven countries hosted an estimated 2.5 million Nepali workers, roughly 95 percent of the documented migrant workforce excluding India.

If you are going to one of these seven countries for work through a licensed recruitment agency, the employer is expected to pay for your visa and ticket. The rule does not automatically extend to other destinations such as South Korea (which runs under the separate government-to-government EPS scheme), Japan, or European countries, where different cost structures and rules apply.

The headline obligation is on the foreign employer. Under the directive, the employer in the destination country must cover two big-ticket items: the cost of processing your work visa, and the air ticket to travel there. Because these are the two single largest components of a Gulf or Malaysia placement, moving them onto the employer is what makes the policy meaningful.

The directive was never intended to cover every rupee a worker spends. Certain personal and regulatory costs remain the worker's responsibility because they attach to the individual rather than to the job: the pre-departure medical (health) check-up, insurance, the mandatory pre-departure orientation training, and a contribution to the Foreign Employment Welfare Fund. When the policy launched, the government indicated these combined mandatory costs should total no more than about Rs 8,000, though the exact figures for medical tests, insurance premiums and the welfare-fund levy are set separately and change over time, so treat this as indicative.

There is a fallback provision that is widely misunderstood. If, and only if, the foreign employer refuses to pay the recruitment agency's commission, the agency is permitted to recover a service charge from the worker. That service charge is capped (see the next section). In practice, disputes usually turn on whether the employer 'really' refused to pay, so it is wise to ask your agency, in writing, whether the employer is covering the visa, ticket and service charge.

This is the number every migrant should memorise. Where the employer does not pay the agency's commission, a licensed recruitment agency may charge the worker a service charge of at most Rs 10,000 for the seven covered countries. Anything charged above that ceiling for a covered destination is a violation of the directive and of the Foreign Employment Act's fee provisions.

One recognised exception has historically applied to Malaysia, where an additional amount (reported at up to around Rs 20,000) was allowed to reflect specific Malaysia-bound processing costs. Rates and exceptions have been revisited by government task forces over the years, so confirm the current figure with the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) before you pay.

On top of the capped service charge, you will legitimately pay for your own medical check-up, insurance, orientation training and the welfare-fund contribution. These are separate from the agency's service charge and are paid to the relevant providers or the government, not pocketed by the agency. If an agency bundles a large lump sum and cannot itemise it into these legal categories, that is a red flag for overcharging.

The penalties for overcharging are real. Nepali authorities have enforced fines of Rs 50,000 per worker overcharged, meaning an agency that overcharged 100 workers can face a fine of about Rs 5 million. Recruitment agencies must also maintain a cash deposit and bank guarantee (the licence deposit under the Foreign Employment Act is in the millions of rupees), from which compensation to workers can be deducted when complaints are upheld.

As a migrant worker going to a covered country, you have the right not to be charged for your work visa or your air ticket, the right to pay no more than the capped service charge, and the right to a clear, itemised receipt for everything you do pay. You are entitled to a written employment contract stating your job, salary, hours and benefits, and to pre-departure orientation training so you understand your rights before you fly.

You also have the right to complain and to seek compensation if you are overcharged or defrauded, without losing your job placement or facing retaliation from the agency. Compensation for upheld complaints can be recovered from the agency's mandatory deposit and bank guarantee held with the Department of Foreign Employment.

To protect yourself in practice, use only agencies licensed by the Department of Foreign Employment, insist on receipts, keep copies of your contract and payment slips, and never hand cash to an unregistered individual broker (the majority of complaints in Nepal target such brokers rather than licensed firms). Verify the demand letter and job offer through the official labour-approval system before paying anyone.

If a recruitment agency charges you more than the legal cap, charges you for the visa or ticket that the employer should pay, or refuses to give receipts, you can file a complaint with the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE), whose office is in New Baneshwor / Buddhanagar, Kathmandu. Complaints can be filed in person, online through the DoFE grievance portal within the Foreign Employment Information Management System (FEIMS) at dofe.gov.np, or by phone via the foreign-employment complaint hotline 1141 (toll-free within Nepal).

If you are already abroad, you can lodge a complaint through the nearest Nepali embassy or mission in your destination country, which forwards cases back to Nepal. Serious cases and claims for compensation are adjudicated by the Foreign Employment Tribunal, a specialised judicial body established under the Foreign Employment Act. Keep every document, receipt and message, as evidence is what wins these cases.

Enforcement has been tightening. In 2026 the Department announced that it would suspend the licence renewal of agencies with unresolved complaints, with tens of thousands of institutional and individual complaints still pending, and required licensed agencies to submit regular progress reports on the welfare of workers they send abroad. Verified overcharging can trigger the per-worker fine, deductions from the agency's deposit, and blacklisting.

The common search 'gulf jana kati kharcha' (how much does it cost to go to the Gulf) has, on paper, a reassuring answer: for the seven covered countries, your out-of-pocket cost should be small, essentially the capped service charge plus your own medical, insurance, orientation and welfare-fund payments, because the employer pays the visa and ticket. In an honest, fully compliant placement, this can add up to only a few tens of thousands of rupees, not the hundreds of thousands many workers historically paid.

The reality has been more complicated. Independent studies and the government's own reviews have repeatedly found that many workers still pay far more than the legal ceiling, with excess fees demanded in cash and off the books, often by brokers operating below the licensed agencies. The gap between the policy on paper and practice on the ground is precisely why knowing the rules, insisting on receipts, and reporting overcharging matters so much.

Two practical cautions. First, figures such as the Rs 10,000 service-charge cap and the roughly Rs 8,000 in mandatory personal costs are the policy baseline; specific medical, insurance and welfare-fund amounts are set separately and can change, and government task forces have periodically reviewed the whole fee structure, so verify current numbers with DoFE. Second, if anyone quotes you a lakh or more to reach a covered country, treat it as a warning sign and ask exactly which legal category each rupee falls into.