If you are travelling from Nepal for foreign employment, check your Shram Swikriti before buying or confirming your flight. The Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) handles online labour approval through FEIMS, and the exact process depends on whether this is your first approval, a renewal or re-entry, or a change of employer or country. DoFE also runs two other separate online services, a foreign-employment job search and a labour approval (sticker) search, and mixing these three up is one of the most common reasons workers get stuck. This guide keeps them apart and tells you exactly which one you need at each stage.
Every button above except the last one opens an official DoFE or FEIMS government address. Merokalam does not process labour approvals, take payments or store your FEIMS password; the buttons only take you to the government's own systems.
Useful tools before foreign-employment travel
Compare foreign salary in NPR, convert contract and visa dates, and estimate monthly income before committing to a job abroad.
Which Shram Swikriti Process Do You Need?
Not every case is the same, and DoFE treats them differently. Pick the card that matches your situation before you open FEIMS.
1. First-Time Labour Approval
You have never held Shram Swikriti before and are going abroad under a new job offer, contract or visa. You will register a fresh FEIMS profile, complete PDOT (pre-departure orientation) and a medical exam, then pay insurance and other fees before submitting documents. See first-time application.
2. Re-entry / Renewal (पुनः श्रम स्वीकृति)
You previously held Shram Swikriti and are going abroad again, whether to the same employer after home leave or under a fresh contract. This uses a lighter document set than a first-time application, and if it is the same country and same employer, it may be issued automatically. See renewal and same-company approval.
3. Changed Employer or Country
Your destination, employer or contract conditions have changed from what your previous approval covered. This does not qualify for the automatic same-company renewal, and DoFE's document requirements shift depending on what exactly changed. See renewal for what to prepare, and contact DoFE if your situation does not clearly fit here.
What Do I Need? (navigation helper, not a legal determination) Answer four questions and this will point you to the right section. For anything genuinely unclear, DoFE's own office is the final word, not this tool.
Shram Swikriti in 9 Steps
- Confirm which labour approval you need.
- Check your passport, visa/job and employer details.
- Prepare the required documents for your specific case.
- Login or register in FEIMS.
- Complete your personal and employment information.
- Complete PDOT, medical, insurance and welfare-fund steps.
- Upload your documents and submit.
- Complete payment and verification requirements.
- Check your approval and save your labour approval.
Documents Required for Shram Swikriti in Nepal
DoFE's own FAQ lists a specific document set for a first-time application, and the June 2026 automatic-approval notice separately lists what a same-country, same-company renewal needs. The two are not the same list, so use the block that matches your case.
FEIMS Login: Which Option Should You Use?
The FEIMS landing page at feims.dofe.gov.np splits into two logins, and picking the wrong one is a common first mistake.
Once you open the individual login, FEIMS asks for your passport number, then your date of birth, then your password, each on its own step with a "Next" button. If the system does not recognise your passport, it will prompt you to register a new account rather than log in, which is the correct first step for a first-time applicant. Never enter your FEIMS password anywhere except this official feims.dofe.gov.np address; Merokalam does not collect it and does not embed a login form of its own.
How FEIMS Works: First-Time Application
DoFE's own FAQ describes the first-time process as five stages, and understanding the order matters more than any single field, because two of the stages (PDOT and medical) have to finish before the next one becomes available.
- Log in and fill the online form. What to enter: your passport, personal and employment details as the form requests. What to check before continuing: that your name and passport number match your passport exactly, since a mismatch here is one of the most common causes of a returned application. Common mistake: rushing through personal details and mistyping a passport number or date of birth that then has to be corrected later.
- Choose a PDOT (pre-departure orientation training) provider and attend the class. What to enter: your selection from the list of approved orientation providers shown in the form. What to check: that the provider and schedule you pick is one you can actually attend, since this step gates the rest of the process. Common mistake: picking a class date that conflicts with travel plans already booked.
- Pay the medical centre's fee online and complete your medical examination. What to enter: payment through the form's online gateway to your chosen approved medical institution. What to check: that the centre you choose is on DoFE's own list of approved medical agencies (linked from the FEIMS services page). Common mistake: visiting a clinic that is not on DoFE's approved list, which will not register a valid result in FEIMS.
- Wait for both PDOT and medical results, then pay insurance and the fund contributions. DoFE states both results typically take about 3 working days to appear. What to enter: online payment once both results are visible, using the current age-banded insurance amount (see fees below). What to check: that both results actually show as complete in FEIMS before you try to pay, since the payment step will not proceed otherwise. Common mistake: attempting payment before both PDOT and medical results are confirmed.
- Scan and submit your documents to your chosen office. What to enter: the document set listed in Documents Required above, scanned and uploaded as the form specifies. What to check: that multi-page documents are combined into a single file per document rather than uploaded as several separate images, and that your name reads identically across every document. Common mistake: submitting a blurry or partial scan that gets the whole application returned for correction.
- Your passport has more than 90 days' remaining validity for a first-time application.
- Your name is spelled identically on your passport, your employer agreement and your citizenship document.
- You have chosen a PDOT provider and medical centre you can realistically attend before your travel date.
- You are paying through FEIMS's own payment step, not a third party claiming to process the payment for you.
How to Renew Shram Swikriti Online in FEIMS
Renewal (पुनः श्रम स्वीकृति, re-entry approval) applies once you already hold, or previously held, Shram Swikriti and are going abroad again. It is not the same online journey as a first-time application, and DoFE treats it with a lighter document set precisely because your identity and employment history are already partly on file.
Who needs it: any worker who previously received Shram Swikriti and is travelling for foreign employment again, whether that is a return to the same job after home leave, a fresh contract with the same employer, or a move to a new employer or country. When it should be renewed: before your existing approval or visa validity lapses, and with enough lead time for your insurance and fund payments to be current, since an expired insurance policy or fund receipt will hold up the renewal. Whether it can be renewed from abroad: in many cases yes, see renewal from abroad below for what differs. If you are returning to the same company: this is the case the June 2026 automatic-approval rule specifically covers, see the next section. If the company changed: you do not qualify for automatic approval and should expect to submit fresh employer documents alongside your renewed insurance and fund receipts. If only your visa was renewed with no other change: confirm with DoFE whether your case still needs a full renewal submission or a lighter update, since this guide could not confirm a single universal answer for every destination. If your passport changed: your new passport number needs to be reflected in FEIMS, and since first-time login is keyed to passport number and date of birth, a changed passport is one of the more common reasons workers get stuck logging in, see FEIMS problems. If your destination country changed: treat it as a new destination, not a renewal of the old approval. If your previous Shram Swikriti has already expired: DoFE's public guidance is that a worker whose previous approval has expired, or who is going abroad again under changed circumstances, must obtain the appropriate renewed labour approval before travelling again, rather than travelling on an expired one.
- Passport with at least 3 months' remaining validity.
- Valid visa for the destination.
- Current employment contract.
- Renewed (periodic) life insurance policy.
- Receipt of Social Security Fund contribution.
- Receipt of Foreign Employment Welfare Fund contribution.
Returning to the Same Company? Check This First
Who qualifies: a worker who already holds, or previously held, Shram Swikriti and is applying for renewed approval for the identical country and identical employer as their existing or most recent approval.
What conditions must match: DoFE's notice specifies the applicant must have a passport with at least 3 months' remaining validity, a valid visa, a valid employment contract, a periodic (renewed) life insurance policy, a paid Social Security Fund contribution receipt, and a paid Foreign Employment Welfare Fund contribution receipt.
What data must already exist in FEIMS: your prior labour-approval record under the same passport and employer, since the automatic check is comparing your new application against that existing history.
What payments or documents are still required: you still pay the Social Security Fund and Welfare Fund contributions and hold current insurance; the automation removes the manual staff review step, not the payments themselves.
Whether approval happens immediately: DoFE's own description is that when the specified conditions are met, the system issues the labour approval through the automatic process rather than waiting in a manual review queue. This guide could not confirm an exact turnaround time in minutes or hours from a live test, since doing so would require submitting a real application.
What prevents automatic approval: any mismatch against the listed conditions, most obviously an expired or soon-to-expire passport, a lapsed visa, an outdated insurance policy, or missing SSF/Welfare Fund payment. A change of employer or country also takes you outside this automatic pathway entirely.
If automatic approval does not happen: check each of the six listed conditions against your own documents first. If everything matches and the system still does not issue an automatic approval, this guide recommends contacting the DoFE labour-approval branch directly (see Need Help From DoFE) rather than assuming a workaround, since this is a genuinely new process and DoFE's own support line is better placed to diagnose an edge case than a third-party guide.
Fees, Insurance, Medical, Orientation and Welfare Fund
DoFE's own FAQ publishes the following figures for a first-time labour approval. Renewal-specific fees were not separately published at the same level of detail; expect at minimum the insurance, SSF and Welfare Fund figures below to still apply.
| Payment | Amount | When |
|---|---|---|
| Insurance, age 18–35 | NPR 3,708 | After PDOT and medical results are both ready |
| Insurance, age 36–50 | NPR 4,931 | After PDOT and medical results are both ready |
| Insurance, age 51–64 | NPR 9,463 | After PDOT and medical results are both ready |
| Social Security Fund (SSF) | NPR 2,308 | Same stage as insurance |
| Foreign Employment Welfare Fund | NPR 1,500 | Same stage as insurance |
| PDOT (orientation) fee | Set by the individual approved provider you choose | When booking your class |
| Medical examination fee | Set by the individual approved medical centre you choose | Before your medical exam |
How to Check Labour Permit / Shram Swikriti Status Online
DoFE runs its status-checking tool separately from FEIMS itself, at foreignjob.dofe.gov.np, labelled "Passport Search" and described as the final labour-approval (sticker) search. This is different from the "Search Pre-Permission Detail" tool on the same site, which looks up an earlier-stage pre-approval by lot number, and different again from "Job Search", which is DoFE's foreign-employment job listing search rather than a personal-status check.
- Open the official status/search page at foreignjob.dofe.gov.np and choose Passport Search.
- Enter your passport number as requested.
- Submit the search.
- Read the result shown, and check that the employer, country and other details match what you expect.
- Save or print your result as proof if the page offers that option.
| Typical status | What it generally means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Pending / under process | Your application or payment has been received and has not finished review. | Wait; recheck periodically rather than resubmitting. |
| Approved | Your labour approval has been issued. | Confirm the employer, country and validity details shown are correct before travelling. |
| Returned for correction | Something in your application needs fixing before it can proceed. | Identify what was flagged and resubmit through FEIMS rather than starting a new, separate application. |
| Rejected | The application did not meet requirements as submitted. | Contact the labour-approval branch to understand why before reapplying. |
| No record found | Either the passport entered does not match any application, or the application has not yet reached this search system. | Double-check the passport number entered, and allow time if you only just submitted. |
Shram Swikriti Renewal From Abroad
Workers already in Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, Bahrain, Oman and other major destinations frequently need to renew Shram Swikriti without returning to Nepal first. The core FEIMS process, login, document upload, payment, does not fundamentally change based on which country you are in, since it is an online system. What can differ by destination is how supporting documents get authenticated and where embassy or labour-attache involvement applies, particularly for Gulf-country postings where an embassy attestation is part of the standard first-time document list. This guide could not confirm country-by-country procedural differences for every one of the nine countries above from a single authoritative source, so treat the following as general orientation rather than a country-specific procedure: if your destination required an embassy attestation for your original application, expect a similar requirement at renewal; if it did not, a straightforward online renewal through FEIMS using the document set in the renewal section above is the more likely path. Do not assume that because a renewal works smoothly from Qatar it will work identically from Japan or South Korea; if in doubt, the Nepali embassy or labour attache in your country of employment, or DoFE directly, is a more reliable source for your specific case than a general guide.
FEIMS Problems and How to Fix Them
- FEIMS login not working: confirm you are using the individual login (not the institutional one) and that you are entering your passport number, date of birth and password in that exact sequence.
- Forgot FEIMS password: use the official password-reset flow described below rather than guessing or repeatedly retrying, which can lock the account.
- OTP not received: confirm the mobile or email registered on your FEIMS account is one you currently have access to; an old number is a common cause.
- Old mobile number registered: DoFE's FEIMS system provides a request process to update your registered email or mobile number; its own instructions indicate you may need to print the request and visit an appropriate office for approval of the change, rather than updating it purely online.
- Old email address registered: the same contact-update request process applies as for a mobile number change.
- Passport number not found: if this is genuinely your first FEIMS application, this is expected; the system should prompt you to register rather than log in.
- New passport but old passport still shows in FEIMS: your account is keyed to your prior passport number; this needs to be corrected with DoFE support rather than creating a second, duplicate account.
- Date of birth doesn't match: double-check you are entering your date of birth exactly as printed on your current passport, including the correct calendar format the form expects.
- Company not showing / employer information incorrect: confirm your employer submitted their side (the official email referenced in the first-time document list) to the correct labour-approval office.
- Visa upload problem: check the file format and size FEIMS requests, and that your visa document is a clear, complete scan rather than a partial or cropped image.
- Medical not showing in FEIMS: confirm your medical centre is on DoFE's approved list; results from a non-approved centre generally will not register.
- Insurance not updated: confirm payment actually completed through FEIMS's own gateway rather than a third party, and that both PDOT and medical results were confirmed before you attempted payment.
- Payment completed but FEIMS still shows pending: allow some processing time before assuming an error; if it persists well beyond a normal processing window, contact DoFE IT/FEIMS support with your payment reference.
- Application returned: read the specific reason shown, correct exactly that item, and resubmit through the same application rather than starting a fresh one.
- Application rejected: contact the labour-approval branch to understand the specific reason before reapplying.
- Renewal option missing: confirm you are logging into the same account that holds your original approval; a new or duplicate account will not show your renewal history.
- Automatic approval didn't happen for a same-company case: re-check all six conditions in the same-company section above; a single mismatched item (commonly an expired passport validity window or a lapsed insurance policy) is enough to prevent it.
- Status not updating: allow normal processing time; repeatedly resubmitting rarely speeds this up and can create confusion in your file.
- Labour approval search shows no record: confirm the passport number entered is correct, and that enough time has passed since submission for the record to appear in the search system.
- FEIMS website or server unavailable: this is a known, occasional issue with any government system under load; try again later rather than assuming your application failed.
- Applicant is currently abroad and having trouble: see the dedicated renewal from abroad section above; the fix often involves confirming which supporting steps need embassy or labour-attache involvement in your specific country.
Verify Your Foreign Job Before You Go
DoFE runs three genuinely separate online systems, and confusing them is a common source of scams and wasted time.
| System | What it is for | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Foreign Employment Search (Job Search) | Look up legitimate, DoFE-listed foreign job postings and demand letters before you commit to an offer. | foreignjob.dofe.gov.np (Job Search) |
| FEIMS (Online Labour Approval) | Apply for, renew, and pay for your Shram Swikriti once you already have a job/visa arrangement. | feims.dofe.gov.np |
| Labour Approval Search (Sticker Search) | Check the final status of a labour approval that has already been applied for. | foreignjob.dofe.gov.np (Passport Search) |
If someone offering you a job cannot be found through the Foreign Employment Search, or asks you to skip FEIMS and pay them directly for a labour approval, treat that as a warning sign and verify with DoFE before paying anything.
Before You Pay or Travel
Need Help From DoFE?
If FEIMS still shows a problem after working through the checks on this page, contact DoFE directly rather than relying on an unofficial fix from a forum or agent. These numbers were checked live against DoFE's own staff-contact listing on 11 August 2026; DoFE periodically updates this list, so recheck if a call does not connect.
| For | Contact |
|---|---|
| Labour Approval branch (श्रम स्वीकृति शाखा) | 9768998473 |
| IT / FEIMS technical support | 9768998477 · it@dofe.gov.np |
| General DoFE office | info@dofe.gov.np · 01-5909665 · toll-free 1140 |
| Office address | Department of Foreign Employment, Tahachal, Kathmandu |
| Office hours | Winter (Kartik 16–Magh 15): Sun–Fri 9:00–4:00 · Summer (Magh 16–Kartik 15): Sun–Fri 9:00–5:00 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Official Sources
Merokalam is an independent guide and is not affiliated with the Department of Foreign Employment or the Government of Nepal. Reviewed against official DoFE and FEIMS information on 11 August 2026.
None of this replaces FEIMS itself, and it is not meant to. The application, the payments and the final labour approval all happen on feims.dofe.gov.np. What this guide gives you is the shape of the process, the documents that actually apply to your specific case, the fields worth double-checking, a plan for what to do when something goes wrong, and a clear read on the 2026 automatic-approval rule, so you are not piecing that together from an agent's word or an outdated video while your travel date gets closer.