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Post # 1
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Join Date: 05 Mar 2015
Location:  OmanPosts: 24 |
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No more direct hiring of Indian workers in Oman |
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No more direct hiring of Indian workers in Oman
Muscat: From June 1, 2015, individual Indian workers or a group of workers cannot be recruited directly anymore, but only through online registration with the Indian government's overseas affairs office, states a fresh order. The order states that all the foreign employers, who seek to recruit Indian workers, need to register in the eMigrate system (www.emigrate.gov.in), which will then be vetted by the Indian Mission office. Thereafter, foreign employers can raise the demand for Indian workers on the eMigrate system and seek a permit to recruit directly or select recruiting agents online. "Such foreign employers will be required to declare the terms and conditions of employment of each category of the job at the time of applying for the registration. The declared terms and conditions of employment will act as a specimen contract and will form part of the employment contract at the time of actual recruitment," adds the order. The order dated May 21, is applicable to all 17 Emigration Clearance Required (ECR) countries including Oman. The order also states that the implementation of a new system will be done in phases. There are 619,850 Indians working in Oman, according to April statistics from the Oman government. Foreign employers recruiting more than 150 Indian workers are required to register online with immediate effect in order to raise a demand and seek a permit to recruit directly or select recruitment agencies. For those who are looking to employ between 50 and 150 Indian workers, the deadline to register online has been set before June 30, 2015. Employers recruiting between 20 and 50 Indian workers are required to do the needful before July 31, 2015, and for those looking to hire less than 20 Indian workers and get the maximum levy are required to register online before August 31, 2015. As per the order, as soon as the country-specific employment contract for each ECR country is finalised, the recruitment of the manual attestation based on the category of workers to be recruited, or direct recruitment of individuals by foreign employers or recruitment of unskilled or domestic workers, will be discontinued. The order also adds that the application for demand approval for such categories of workers (recruitment of individuals/unskilled/domestic workers) can be applied for by foreign employers only through eMigrate system after the foreign employer gets itself registered in the eMigrate system. An Indian migrant rights activist while talking to the Times of Oman over the phone said that it is a laudable move from the government side. "The International Labour Organisation and other global labour rights' bodies always urge stringent recruitment procedures to avoid risks. A majority of the migrants are duped during the recruitment process itself. So, the governments should always have a stringent recruitment procedure to avoid pitfalls," said Rafeek Ravuther, the Indian representative of Migrant Forum in Asia, which stands up for migrants' rights. "Through this system, when the government has access to details of both employers and migrants, it will be quite helpful to avoid risks and streamline the recruitment procedures," said Rafeek, while adding that most Indian workers are still going abroad for jobs without proper contracts. Meanwhile, an Indian social worker, while welcoming the move said that complicating the recruitment procedures will deny opportunities for Indian migrant workers. "The aim behind the move might be to streamline the recruitment process and to stop workers from being fleeced by crooked recruitment agents, but when the procedures are complicated, they will miss their chances. Employers will begin to look for workers from other nationalities," said Shaji Sebastin, a Muscat-based social worker. A human resource expert in Muscat also voiced the same opinion. "While I understand the need to regulate employment for Indian nationals coming to Oman and further to ensure that the terms under which they are employed is fair, this system will without a doubt reduce the number of Indian nationals who will be considered for opportunities here. Further, the timeframe to employ someone will no doubt be extended," said Tonia Gray, general manager at Competence HR. "As a recruitment company, I do not know which nationality the successful candidate will be until we have identified them as suitable for the role and the client has decided to make an offer. We could find ourselves going through this expensive process only to find that the application is refused. "This will also delay the company's recruitment process, and I believe we will now find clients advising us against considering Indian nationals due to this change," added the HR expert. Source:timesofoman http://www.timesofoman.com/News/52542/Article-No-more-direct-hiring-of-Indian-workers-online-system-opens |
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