By Dinitha RathnayakeOver 100,000 Sri Lankan migrant workers registered under the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) have service contracts that are out of date and require renewal, making them ineligible for any coverage or benefits provided by the SLBFE during this Covid-19 pandemic.Speaking to The Morning yesterday (28), SLBFE Deputy General Manager and Spokesman Mangala Randeniya said that 100,000 Sri Lankan migrant workers from the Middle East, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Maldives should renew their outdated registration with the SLBFE without delay.“Every Sri Lankan migrant worker who leaves the country for foreign employment should be registered at the SLBFE prior to departure. According to our records, there are around 100,000 migrant workers without updated registration.”Randeniya said that the SLBFE registration is valid for a period of two years and that workers could renew their registration at their respective Sri Lankan diplomatic missions upon the expiry of the registration by paying the relevant renewal fee.The renewal fee is around Rs. 3,800, consisting of the SLBFE registration charge of Rs. 3,000 and the insurance charge of Rs. 800, he added.According to Randeniya, a migrant worker who is not registered with the SLBFE is not entitled to any coverage or benefits provided by the SLBFE under any circumstances. Therefore, he urged migrant workers and their family members to renew the registration under the SLBFE to avoid any complications during this Covid-19 pandemic situation.“Registered migrant workers are entitled to get benefits upon repatriation,” Randeniya said.When inquired as to whether the SLBFE can establish an automatic renewal of service contracts considering the Covid-19 situation, since the database is already in the system as such would be convenient to the migrant workers, Randeniya said that State Minister of Foreign Employment Promotion and Market Diversification Piyankara Jayaratne had also made a proposal to see if the SLBFE can extend this registration automatically and cover the charges later.The total migrant departures per year are approximately 225,000, according to Randeniya, as in 2018 around 220,000 migrant worker departures were reported. However, some of the migrant workers who left in 2017 extended their work permits, but not the SLBFE registration. The migrant workers who left the country in 2017 and 2018 are yet to renew their SLBFE registration.All these categories should obtain the SLBFE registration, and if the migrant worker is not in a position to personally renew the registration contract, the family members can come to the SLBFE with a valid passport copy of the migrant worker and renew the registration.According to Randeniya, migrant workers' families would lose benefits, like compensation of Rs. 600,000 for death due to any cause whilst working abroad during the contract period, and other welfare benefits afforded to them, if they do not have proper SLBFE registration.
