What a recruiting agent may legally charge an Indian worker for a job in Europe

The public advisory of the Ministry of External Affairs states that a registered recruiting agent may charge an emigrant a maximum of 30,000 rupees plus 18 percent GST, which comes to 35,400 rupees. The same advisory records that unregistered agents are collecting between 2 and 5 lakh rupees. That gap is the whole problem.

One thing first. The ceiling applies to the service the recruiting agent performs for the worker. The state fees for a permit in Europe are separate and much smaller. Under the Croatian Ministry of the Interior fee schedule, issuing a residence and work permit costs 74.32 euro, the biometric card costs 31.85 euro, and issuing the document adds 9.29 euro. The full government cost is around 115 euro, and it usually sits inside the employer's file.

Where the ceiling is written, and why two figures circulate

There is an inconsistency worth knowing about. The ministry's recruiting agents page still carries the older formula: the equivalent of 45 days of wages under the employment contract, subject to a maximum of 20,000 rupees. The ministry's current advisory, republished on Indian mission websites, says 30,000 rupees plus 18 percent GST. The figure counted in practice is the 30,000 one, but neither of them is anywhere near 2 lakh. When an agent says the rule is different for Europe, he is quoting a third figure that is not written down anywhere.

Stop on the insurance line. Cover of 10 lakh rupees carries a premium of 275 rupees for two years. The sum is small enough that charging it to the worker as a separate item is itself a signal that the accounting is not honest.

What the rule says on the European side

European Union law runs in the same direction. Article 19 of Directive 2014/36/EU on seasonal workers states that the employer may bear the cost of travel and insurance and may not recover it from the worker. The same directive requires that fees not be disproportionate or excessive. For the companies we work for this is not only an ethical question, because this is the point an inspection tests.

On the Nepal side the same principle runs under the name of zero cost recruitment, set out in ethical recruitment and zero cost. In the India to Europe corridor only the name of the law changes. The logic holds: a cost that benefits the employer is the employer's cost.

Where the money stops being visible

The real failure happens on the receipt. A worker pays 1,80,000 rupees, of which 35,400 is receipted and the rest stays in cash. The cash portion is explained as tickets, medical tests, language classes and documents, and no bill is issued for any of the three. If the visa arrives, nobody complains. If it does not, the complaint is worth 35,400 rupees, because on paper the rest was never paid.

The remedy is simple and works before the money moves. Take every receipt in the registered name that appears on the list, have each item written separately, and ask in writing for whatever the agent is describing as a service. How to check the agent is set out in eMigrate registration and checking a recruiting agent, and how long a permit actually takes is in the country by country timeline. Which part of the cost the employer carries is described on the employers page.