Multiple issues in applying for jobs in Eastern European countries since their embassies are not located in Sri Lanka

Mr. Mohamed Farook Mohamed Arshad

Secretary of the Association of Licensed Foreign Employment Agencies

Although there are many job opportunities in Eastern European countries such as Malta, Romania, Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania, Serbia and Albania, Sri Lankan job seekers and foreign employment agencies have had to face a multitude of issues while applying for them. The main reason is that the embassies of most of such countries are not located in Sri Lanka. Mohamed Farook Mohamed Arshad, Secretary of the Association of Licensed Foreign Employment Agencies, said that a wide range of job opportunities are available in Eastern European countries, from labour to engineering. However, he said that Sri Lankans applying for those jobs have had to visit such countries' embassies in India and stay there for almost two weeks to complete the relevant process since such countries’ embassies are not located in Sri Lanka.

"It costs around Rs. 300,000 to visit India and come back. There is a lot of congestion in the country's embassies at present. Due to these reasons, job seekers have to spend a lot of time and money to apply for visas. In case they are not offered visas, it is not possible to recover the money they spent. We, the agencies, also cannot recover the money we paid to the agencies of the respective countries for the work permits." The Association has requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on many occasions to take steps to intervene to establish embassies of such countries or VFS centres (a globally-recognised intermediary for visa-related processes) considering the well-being of the job seekers and foreign employment agencies, as well as the current economic situation in the country, but there has been no favourable response. A intervention by President and Finance Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to resolve this issue will be greatly appreciated.