Over 150,000 persons have registered with the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) and gone abroad within the first half of 2023, the SLBFE reported.
Speaking on the matter, SLBFE General Manager Gamini Senarath Yapa noted that it is expected that nearly 300,000 would register with the Bureau, in search of foreign employment this year.
While nearly 311,000 persons registered with the SLBFE in 2022, Yapa highlighted that in 2023, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are the four most likely countries Sri Lankans would try to migrate to.
The General Manager noted, however, that while there is a higher tendency for workers to travel to these four countries, an increased number of workers are also migrating to Romania and Japan.
“As a whole, there is a very high tendency for more Sri Lankans to go abroad. We aim to send more skilled workers to the foreign employment market”, he said in this regard.
