India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) quietly posted a notice on 28 October inviting public comments on a draft Overseas Mobility (Facilitation & Welfare) Bill 2025, a long-awaited law that will replace the 1983 Emigration Act.
The draft proposes an Overseas Mobility & Welfare Council to align 11 different ministries involved in labour migration, skill development and social security. If enacted, recruiters sending workers abroad would be licensed under a risk-based system, and hefty penalties—including licence cancellation and ₹5 crore fines—could be levied for contract substitution or trafficking-related offences.
A new digital Emigrant Facilitation Platform would centralise job approvals, insurance enrolment and grievance redressal, giving state governments dashboard access to track returning workers. The bill also empowers the Centre to enforce international mobility agreements—such as those recently signed with Australia, the UK and the Gulf Cooperation Council—through binding rules on employers abroad.
For corporate mobility managers, the biggest change is clarity: the draft confirms that highly skilled professionals on OECD salaries will be exempt from mandatory pre-departure training and insurance, reducing administrative overhead. At the same time, the welfare cess on each overseas labour contract is likely to rise from ₹2,000 to ₹3,500 to fund reintegration schemes. Stakeholders have until 18 November to email suggestions, after which the bill will be tabled in Parliament’s winter session.
The draft proposes an Overseas Mobility & Welfare Council to align 11 different ministries involved in labour migration, skill development and social security. If enacted, recruiters sending workers abroad would be licensed under a risk-based system, and hefty penalties—including licence cancellation and ₹5 crore fines—could be levied for contract substitution or trafficking-related offences.
A new digital Emigrant Facilitation Platform would centralise job approvals, insurance enrolment and grievance redressal, giving state governments dashboard access to track returning workers. The bill also empowers the Centre to enforce international mobility agreements—such as those recently signed with Australia, the UK and the Gulf Cooperation Council—through binding rules on employers abroad.
For corporate mobility managers, the biggest change is clarity: the draft confirms that highly skilled professionals on OECD salaries will be exempt from mandatory pre-departure training and insurance, reducing administrative overhead. At the same time, the welfare cess on each overseas labour contract is likely to rise from ₹2,000 to ₹3,500 to fund reintegration schemes. Stakeholders have until 18 November to email suggestions, after which the bill will be tabled in Parliament’s winter session.
