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Special
passports for migrant workers? "It will be easy to identify the migrant workers, if there's a special passport for them," Foreign Employment Bureau Chairman Karunasena Hettiarachchi said adding, " it will also ensure the safety and protection of migrant workers". He said the proposal has been made taking into consideration the financial difficulties and harassments faced by migrant workers seeking foreign employment. It has been proposed that the passports be issued free of charge. Besides the free passport, the migrant workers are also to be benefited by a special insurance scheme, arranged by ALFEA, which will look into the social aspects of the families of migrant workers. "ALFEA will hold the responsibility of distributing the passports, after they are issued by the Emigration Department and we will hold job agents responsible for any malpractice, " ALFEA President Suraj Dandeniya said. However, Immigration and Emigration Controller E. Jinadasa said that although issuing special passports will make it easy to identify the migrant workers, it would be a form of discrimination against them. "Passports for migrant workers would state that they are only for migrant workers while the colour of the passports may also change" he said. |
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