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Working abroad: Getting out without getting duped

19 Sep 2022

Reports have made it apparent that the increase in the number of people trying to leave the country has been met with an increase in scammers trying to take advantage of them. Warning of this situation, the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foriegn Employment (SLBFE) recently said that those who are planning to migrate to a number of countries including Poland, Romania, Israel, South Korea, and Malaysia should be vigilant about parties who scam would-be migrant workers, claiming to provide jobs in such countries. The SLBFE had further stated that the number of complaints it had received regarding such cases was on the rise. As seen by The Morning, social media platforms are flooded with pages promoting foreign employment agencies that claim to provide fast and low-cost job opportunities, especially in European countries. To attract people, some even claim that job-seekers could earn the money they spend to migrate within one year abroad, and that it is possible to migrate for employment opportunities regardless of their financial status.  This situation is receiving attention in a context where more and more people are becoming desperate enough to disregard the risks of migrating through unauthorised foreign employment agencies and through illegal methods. There are plenty of reports of people who went abroad for employment, but are now stranded in countries like UAE with no job and no way of coming back home. At the same time, arrests of those who years trying to migrate via the sea have become common news nowadays. When it comes to protecting people from being victims of these scammers, there is a great responsibility on the part of both job-seekers and the SLBFE. Job-seekers must refrain from risking their lives, money, and the future of their professions by looking for easy, cheap, and fast methods of migrating. Despite their economic situation in Sri Lanka, they have to make judicious decisions about the path they choose, because choosing the wrong path is highly likely to cost them their hard-earned money, career, and even lives.  However, despite warnings, in reality, job-seekers seem to be ready to risk the aforementioned parts of their lives for a better future. This is when the SLBFE’s role comes in. While it is true that it has been cautioning job-seekers for a long time, in a context where economic hardships have become a more powerful factor than the risks of migrating, the SLBFE should be innovative, and find ways that actually speak to people’s hearts. At the same time, the SLBFE’s efforts in curbing unauthorised foreign employment agencies should take an extra step to look into illegal foreign employment related acts committed by authorised agencies. At the same time, the SLBFE’s operations should also be streamlined and expedited, due to the rapid increase in job-seekers and due to plenty of allegations of the SLBFE not communicating properly with job-seekers and of being a corrupt institution.  What is more, there is a greater need of instilling confidence in job-seekers by ensuring that the law enforcement authorities and the SLBFE take the necessary legal actions when they receive a complaint about scammers.  More importantly, this situation should be considered an issue that has an impact on not just the present, but also on the future of the country, which has an economy that is substantially dependent on foreign remittances.  


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