"International Migrants Day: Fake foreign job recruiters can finance three Chandrayaan-3 missions or buy three Rafale annually,"

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Indian job seekers hoping for opportunities abroad often face the predatory practice of exorbitant recruitment fees, even when government regulations exist to curb them...

The Indian external affairs ministry clearly states that registered recruitment agencies can charge a maximum of ₹30,000 for their services. Over 1,700 such agencies operate across India, authorised to recruit for overseas jobs.

A crucial factor that comes into play regarding these organisations is their concentration in urban areas. This leaves a gap in rural areas, where desperate job seekers often turn to unregistered middlemen, known as ‘invisible sub-agents’.

These middlemen, operating without oversight, extract unauthorised fees from potential migrants, often without providing any receipts.

For many potential migrants in rural areas such as Sudeesh, the middlemen’s ‘help’ in finding a job feels essential, even though it comes at a hefty price as reaching out to registered urban recruitment agencies is a hassle.

Unfortunately, the exorbitant fee charged by the sub-agents goes unnoticed, despite being a form of corruption...

Rafeek Ravuther, a migrant rights activist, told The Leaflet that “recruitment is the first process of migration. When illegal or fake agents intervene, corruption occurs when they charge exorbitant fees from the potential migrant.”

“Eventually, this exorbitant recruitment fee pushes the migrant worker into debt bondage back home and forced labour at the workplace. Many migrants have to work one or two years to clear the debt bondage and when the debt exists, the migrant worker will adjust to any exploitative working conditions,” Rafeek added...