Nepal to consult 25 agencies following Malaysia recruitment limits

The Nepali Ministry of Youth, Labour and Employment is set to hold discussions with 25 recruitment agencies following a decision by Malaysia to limit worker recruitment to a specific list of approved companies.

Malaysia’s Ministry of Human Resources recently implemented the Foreign Worker Centralised Management System (FWCMS), which lists authorized agencies from ten labor-sending countries. Under this new arrangement, only agencies registered in the FWCMS are permitted to recruit foreign workers for employment in Malaysia. For Nepal, only 25 agencies have been listed, a move that has drawn significant criticism from the Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies.

Industry representatives have raised concerns that the selection process lacks transparency and effectively creates a syndicate, preventing hundreds of other legally operating Nepali manpower companies from competing. The Nepali government has engaged with Malaysia’s acting ambassador to discuss the matter and is consulting with the selected agencies and industry associations to address the implications of the new system.