DOHA: Twenty-four Nepali youths who arrived in Saudi Arabia for foreign employment are stranded after their visas expire.

Nisan Thapa Magar of Okhaldhunga, one of the victims, said that 24 Nepalis were left stranded after the Saudi Topaz Golf Company fired them without paying them for working without work-permits.

“We have filed a complaint at the Saudi Labor Court against our company for not paying on time, not facilitating for our work-permit (identity) card locally known as akama (ID) and also not sending home after the contract expired,” Nisan told KhabarHub, adding “The court has ruled to give our salary, exit visas and tickets.”

He complained that after the court verdict, the company has evacuated their residence. He informed that he is living in a rented room in Jubel for more than a month now.

“The company was good before. It’s been almost two years now that the company started treating us harshly,” Narayan Pariyar, another stranded Nepali there said, adding, “The Nepali embassy in Saudi Arabia has said that they will try to get money for the exit visa, but nothing has been done till now.”

He is living a confined life in the rented room hoping that the embassy and Gulf Sky Manpower, which had sent them recently, would keep their words and take initiation for their journey back home.

The victims complained that the embassy has been a mere spectator of their suffering though some Nepalis personally helped them.

Meanwhile, the embassy claims that efforts are being made to solve the problem of the victims.

“We have been working for them, it takes time to bear the result,” an official in the embassy said, “The victims often lack patience as they are in trouble, but we have been working sincerely since we got the news.”

He added that the embassy has initiated action to obtain exit visas for the stranded Nepalis.

Similarly, it has been reported that about 22 Nepalis have been stranded in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia without getting an exit visa. Recently, there have been increasing complaints that the company is evicting workers from the company and sending them home, citing the coronavirus pandemic.

The affected workers have urged the embassy to understand the situation of Nepali workers and take initiative to solve them claiming that such problems are increasing day by day.

These are 24 Nepalis stranded after their visas expired:

1 Narayan Pariyar

2 Nisan Thapa Magar

3 Bir Bahadur Tamang

4 Bishnu Bahadur Sunar

5 Lokman Chaudhary

6 Mangal Prasad Kurmi

7 Sangram Rai

8 Kale Singh Tamang

9 Tekendra Gharti

10 Kumar Khatri

11 Surya Adhikari

12 Rajendra Rai

13 Ram Bahadur Nepali

14 Tilakram Chaudhary

15 Jangali Chaudhary

16 Ram Kumar Chaudhary

17 Harni Bahadur Chaudhary

18 Bharat Rai

19 Amar Chaudhary

20 Netra BC

21 Lok Bahadur Tharu

22 Bishnu Bahadur Thakuri

23 Rajad Mia

24 Roman Rai