Kamal, a construction labourer living on-site in Colombo, finds it difficult to make ends meet with his daily wage of Rs. 1,500. On the other hand, Hong Chua, a Chinese construction worker in Colombo, who works 10 hours a day, says “we are paid a daily wage of Rs. 1,000, while food and accommodation are provided free of charge. So, we are okay”
Workers such as Kamal are looking for employment opportunities outside Sri Lanka because job opportunities and working conditions in the country are not attractive enough to retain them, while similar working conditions and wages are attracting foreign workers such as Hong Chua to Sri Lanka.
From sending to receiving
A recent study identifies three phases of aggregate migration:
A) Net emigration (out-migration) phase
B) Transition phase (growth in immigration numbers despite net emigration)
C) Net immigration (in-migration is greater than out-migration) phase.
Sri Lanka is still a net emigration country. Nevertheless, a new trend is emerging in terms of labour migration.
In recent years, the gradual rise in immigrant workers in Sri Lanka coincided with the decline in the departure of Sri Lankans for overseas employment. In fact, worker departures from Sri Lanka have been experiencing a downward trend since 2014, and have dropped to 212,162 departures in 2017. At the same time, issuance and extension of resident visas for foreign nationals to reside in Sri Lanka have been on the rise to reach 53,583 in 2017 from 41,306 in 2014 (Figure 1).
As per the current regulatory framework in Sri Lanka, only certain types of resident visas allow employment in Sri Lanka. As shown in Figure 2, in 2017, out of the total 53,583 resident visas issued or extended to foreigners, 24% was for employment in the private sector. Almost equal shares of 16% each were for resident visas allocated for foreigners extending their services to the public sector and workers of the Board of Investment (BOI) projects.
Figure 2 also suggests that nearly 60% of resident visas for employment purposes(approximately 30,000 visas) had been issued/renewed in 2017. Additionally, there may be other lawfully residing foreigners who would have obtained or renewed their visas for employment before 2017.
As shown in Figure 3, apart from these lawfully residing and working foreigners, another group comprises of unauthorised foreign workers. It consists of those working without work authorisation for their visa type, those over-staying their resident visas for employment, and those who have illegally entered Sri Lanka. The exact numbers of such unauthorised foreign workers in Sri Lanka remain unknown. Despite the absence of a clear estimate of the number of such unauthorised foreign workers, statistics for 2017 from the Department of Immigration and Emigration show that there were 793 investigations and 392 removals of foreign nationals for violating the Immigration and Emigration Act No. 20 of 1948.
Immigration and Emigration Act
The existing Immigration and Emigration Act in Sri Lanka is archaic. Despite the amendments in 1993, 1998, 2006, and 2015, the Immigration and Emigration Act No. 20 of 1948 still is in need of revising in order to address the current mobility of individuals in and out of Sri Lanka, including the skills deficits and labour shortages in the labour market, and the demographic transitions of the native population.
The process to repeal the existing Immigration and Emigration Act by drafting a new Immigration and Emigration Bill and paving the path for a new Act is already underway, and it is expected to be finalised and effective in mid-2019.
Institutional framework
Along with an updated Act to govern immigration into the country, Sri Lanka also needs a matching institutional framework to ensure efficient and foolproof operation of related activities, such as ensuring employers do not penalise native workers, authorisation of work permits, validation of foreign qualifications, experience and credentials, and continuous monitoring of foreign workers in Sri Lanka in terms of aspects such as their welfare, health, integration to the local society, and return to their country of origin at the end of their working period.
In formulating such an institutional framework, it is important to note that migration transition is a long, complicated, and dynamic phase. A research hints that, initially, immigrants would be socially marginalised in Sri Lanka, followed by increased family reunification when more skilled immigrants start to pursue settlement in Sri Lanka with their families. At the tail end of the migration transition, it would be a phase that requires attention to long-term inclusion and integration of immigrants in the Sri Lankan society. Once this immigration transition is completed, Sri Lanka may embark on an era of net immigration.
Future
As such, new laws, regulations and institutions which are being drafted at present ought to be sufficiently forward thinking to guide Sri Lanka beyond the incipient beginning of immigration to all the way across the migration transition phase and to a possible scenario of net immigration. The country cannot afford any weaknesses in the institutional framework in immigration to foster a breeding ground for hostility and friction between natives and foreign-born workers.
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