Amendment in Emigration Act, 1983
The Government has recently amended the Emigration Rules, 1983 vide Emigration (Amendment) Rules, 2009 notified on 09.07.2009. Major highlights of the amended rules are:
(i) The validity period of a new registration certificate has been increased from the existing 5 years to 10 years maximum.
(ii) The amount of security to be furnished by the recruiting agent in the form of bank guarantee has been increased to twenty lakh rupees.
(iii) The application fee for registration certificate has been increased from five thousand rupees to twenty five thousand rupees.
(iv) The application for registration now will have to be accompanied by a copy of the applicant’s bachelor’s degree or two years diploma or equivalent, balance sheet of the previous financial year or a statement of accounts showing the assets and liabilities of the applicant, income tax returns for the last three consecutive years and an affidavit in Form-II, executed by the applicant before a Magistrate or Notary Public.
(v) The service charges to be collected by the recruiting agent from the worker have now been prescribed as equivalent to worker’s wages for forty five days as under the employment contract, subject to a maximum of twenty thousand rupees.
(vi) For obtaining Permit for direct recruitment of workers from India, the foreign employer will have to furnish a bank guarantee of ten thousand rupees per worker subject to a minimum of one lakh rupees and a maximum of twenty lakh rupees, valid for a period of one year over and above the duration of the employment contract.
(vii) The fee for appeal to the central Government has been increased from existing two hundred rupees to two thousand rupees.
(viii) Specific duties and responsibilities laid down for the recruiting agents as well as the foreign employers with a view to safeguard the interests of the emigrants.
This information was given by the Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, Shri Vayalar Ravi in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.
PKM