The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) has uncovered a racket where job seekers have been swindled under the guise of finding lucrative employment in Poland.
“Some local employment agencies are involved in the racket and we are investigating” a Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment spokesman said.
Foreign employment agencies involved in the racket lure job seekers by placing advertisements in the media announcing job opportunities in Poland.
He said the Sri Lankan Embassy in Poland has informed that in order to get a job in Poland, one must have a work permit.
Labour Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva told the ‘Daily News’ recently that racketeers were charging US$ 750 to 1000 (Rs.135,000 to Rs.180,000) from Sri Lankans seeking jobs, merely over the promise of arranging a Visa interview with Polish officials at the embassy located in New Delhi, India.
There is no Poland embassy in Colombo and the Poland embassy in New Delhi looks after related affairs. The minister said a request has been made to Polish officials to establish a Visa centre in Colombo.
“This is a mafia, a racket.We need to put a stop to this.This is why we have requested Polish officials to establish a Visa Centre here. There are a lot of good jobs in Poland and we need to explore such opportunities. But we have to stop employment agencies exploiting innocent job seekers. This is why we are seeking more and more government to government job agreement programmes,” he said.
Meanwhile, the SLBFE issuing a statement requested job seekers not to pay any money to Sri Lankan employment agencies without a work permit in Poland at any time.