Amid deportations, an Indian state offers lessons in safe migration

From orientation training for prospective migrants to bilateral agreements, Kerala’s unique department for its non-resident citizens is exploring several paths to safe migration 

Mahima Jain

India has the largest diaspora in the world, with over 35.4 million Indians overseas, and illegal migration is a concern. A trainer at the pre-departure orientation on safe migration provided by the Department of Non-Resident Keralites Affairs (NoRKA) in Ernakulam, Kerala on February 5, 2025. Ashish K Vincent/The Migration Story

BENGALURU/ERNAKULAM: On a sultry February morning, Devika S, 24, sat with over 60 classmates at a nursing school in southern India, learning how to identify a bogus agency promising a ticket to the good life in a western country in exchange of big money, from a genuine one where the paperwork would be long-drawn but the migration route both affordable and safe.

The training session on safe and legal migration in Ernakulam in the southern Indian state of Kerala was organised by the local government, which is among a handful of interventions in a country hitting headlines globally for the crackdown on illegal Indian migrants.

The training, though planned days in advance, could not have been more timely.

On the same morning as the training – February 5– a United States military aircraft touched down in the north Indian town of Amritsar, Punjab, with 104 illegal Indian immigrants brought back to the country in shackles and handcuffs. Two more aircrafts with a total of 229 illegal Indians immigrants landed on February 16 and 17, amid reports of “Trump style” immigration raids targeting Indians in the United Kingdom as well.

In this classroom where Devika sat, about 3,000 kms from the Amritsar airport where the illegal migrants land, students of State Institute of Medical Education and Technology (SIMET) College of Nursing Palluruthy, who had just written their final exams, spoke of a gnawing anxiety of being scammed by fraudulent agencies. 

Almost all of them wished to migrate to a Western or a Middle Eastern country, safely.

Indians access the global labour market both legally and illegally using migration pathways that have become harder to govern. More recently, since Donald Trump assumed office as the President of the United States, mass deportations have hit global headlines. Last week, the UK too cracked down on illegal immigration, arresting 609 people and targeting Indian restaurants. 

Devika S, 24, is one of over 60 nursing students at the SIMET College of Nursing Palluruthy in Ernakulam, Kerala who wish to migrate to a Western or Middle Eastern country for work. She participated in a pre-departure orientation on safe migration provided by the government on February 5, 2025.

Ashish K Vincent/The Migration Story

A few weeks before Devika attended the training, she had heard of Nimisha Priya, a nurse from Kerala who was sentenced for execution for the murder of a Yemeni national. The victim, her business partner, allegedly held Priya in Yemen against her and she dosed him with ketamine in order to escape, but he died of an overdose, she told authorities as reported in various news media. 

“All this news really hit me. I thought: ‘What would I do if I was scammed (in the process of migrating)?’” 

“I want to migrate in a truthful and trustworthy way,” Devika said. 

But she didn’t know what that entailed — until recently. 

When Devika’s college hosted the safe migration training, offered by Kerala state’s Department of Non-Resident Keralites Affairs (NoRKA) - an agency that has been in existence for nearly three decades but has stepped up work on migration governance in recent years - she found some answers.

At the training, Devika learnt that there was an easy way to spot fake or unlicensed agencies - authentic agencies will have a Overseas Recruitment License from India’s Ministry of External Affairs’ Protector of Emigrants (POE), and blacklisted ones can be found on Indian-government-run portal www.e-migrate.gov.in. 

“I was not aware of the migration process. I didn’t know I could find agencies that are blacklisted,” she said. 

NURSING DREAMS

Nursing students, who are prospective migrants, at a training on safe migration provided by Kerala state’s Department of Non-Resident Keralites Affairs (NoRKA) at the SIMET College of Nursing Palluruthy on February 5, 2025, in Ernakulam, Kerala. Ashish K Vincent/The Migration Story

NoRKA has been offering safe migration trainings for nearly two decades, but these sessions have never been more in demand, with nursing students showing the highest interest in these programmes, officials said.

Until two years ago, NoRKA was reaching out to about 750-1000 aspirants, but trained 2250 in 2024 across 14 districts of this coastal state, known globally as amongst the top suppliers of nurses.

Approximately 640,000 Indian nurses work abroad. More than 87,800 Indian nurses work in OECD countries, the second highest after the Philippines. (In OECD countries approximately 16% of nurses are foreign-born.) 

India is amongst the top countries in the world sending nurses, filling a care gap globally. The World Health Organisation estimates a global shortage of 4.5 million nurses in 2030, with Western and Middle Eastern countries already facing its effects on their health systems. There are 3.5 million trained nurses in India, which has 2.06 nurses for 1,000 people against the WHO recommendation of 3:1,000. But despite the local demand, the outflow of nurses from India has only increased over the years. 

The states that sent the most women workers–who mainly work as domestic workers or nurses were Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, according to a 2018 ILO report.

The demand for nursing courses too has shot up across the country, many drawn to the profession as it offers a “ready ticket to a an overseas career” said Praveena Kodoth, a professor and expert on migration from the Thiruvananthapuram-based Centre for Development Studies, a leading institution for social science research. 

While NoRKA’s training sessions are meant for all prospective migrants, it has so far focussed on nurses due to the number of people trained as nurses leaving Kerala for other countries, officials at NoRKA said. It is designed to prepare nursing students for international careers by imparting knowledge on licensing, legal requirements, cultural adaptation, travel arrangements, and professional expectations.

Smitha Chandran, a project officer at the state-run Centre for Management Development in Kerala, speaks to final-year nursing students about safe migration at the SIMET College of Nursing Palluruthy on February 5, 2025, in Ernakulam, Kerala. The training is provided by Kerala state’s Department of Non-Resident Keralites Affairs (NoRKA), which tackles migration governance. Ashish K Vincent/The Migration Story

Smitha Chandran, a trainer and project officer at the state-run Centre for Management Development in Kerala, said, “NoRKA’s sessions serve as a crucial preparatory step for aspiring nurses aiming to work abroad.” 

Nursing schools like the one where Devika is doing her course have been drawing several agencies selling the “work in a foreign land” dream to nursing students.  The private agencies mostly focused on courses and packages tailored for aspiring migrants, said students who attended NoRKA training.

“We’ve had sessions by so many private (overseas recruitment) agencies but we needed a class on safe migration. I don't think my friends had asked so many questions in previous sessions,” said Alveena Maria, Devika’s classmate. 

To Maria’s surprise, she found that nurses can register for free or for a minimal fee with NoRKA as a migrant worker, and also apply for vacancies through two of Kerala’s state-recruitment agencies. “My cousin spent Rs 3 lakh to get a job as a nurse in Ireland. I may not have to spend so much,” she said. 

LARGEST DIASPORA

A nursing student at the SIMET College of Nursing Palluruthy browses a handout on safe migration at an awareness programme offered by the Kerala state’s Department of Non-Resident Keralites Affairs (NoRKA) on February 5, 2025, in Ernakulam, Kerala. Ashish K Vincent/The Migration Story

India has the largest diaspora in the world, with over 35.4 million Indians overseas. They work in nearly all fields, including STEM, healthcare, and low-skilled labour, in more than 200 countries. 

There were 700,000 undocumented Indians in the US, the third highest group, in 2022, according to some estimates. One in four Indians in the US is staying illegally, according to Pew Research Center and Center for Migration Studies of New York. The UK too has seen a rise in the number of Indians entering illegally, with 1,000 Indians risking their lives to cross the English Channel on small boats and over 5,253 applying for asylum in 2023, data show. 

India’s Ministry of External Affairs website www.e-migrate.gov.in has a list of over 3,000 “Unregistered agencies against which grievances received.” Andhra Pradesh tops this list with complaints against 498 unregistered agencies, followed by Uttar Pradesh (420) and Tamil Nadu (377), e-migrate data analysed by this reporter revealed.

This month, a parliamentary panel headed by Member of Parliament Sashi Tharoor recommended several measures such as creating awareness through partnerships with local civil society groups and media outlets in the regions most affected by illegal migration to ensure that people are fully informed about their rights, processes involved and the risks of illegal migration. The panel also suggested Indian citizens leaving the country be given basic information at immigration counters. 

A new Overseas Mobility (Facilitation and Welfare) Bill 2024 is expected to be put up for public consultation soon. The Parliamentary Committee report said there was “an urgent need for spreading awareness about safe migration…”

Healthcare workers like Devika who hope to find a well-paying job outside of India  believe they have no future in their homeland for stagnating incomes and poor career prospects.

Bharathi, who is in her mid-twenties, graduated as a nurse two years ago and works at a private hospital in Tiruchirappalli in southern Tamil Nadu that adjoins Kerala. Like Devika’s peers, most of her classmates at nursing school plan to migrate overseas. But Bharathi didn’t want to at first. However, she has changed her mind due to poor wages being offered to her in India.

Indian nursing students, who are prospective migrants, in a discussion after the pre-departure orientation on safe migration provided by the local government at the SIMET College of Nursing Palluruthy on February 5, 2025, in Ernakulam, Kerala. Ashish K Vincent/The Migration Story

Her parents are daily-wage labourers and supported her education with their life’s savings. She earns less than Rs 15,000 a month after working six days a week, 10 hours a day. She burns the midnight oil to study for an English language proficiency test like IELTS, which will allow her to apply for vacancies in the UK or one of the Gulf countries, she said.

Indeed, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates — are the principal destinations for most Indian healthcare workers, followed by English-speaking countries including Australia, the US, the UK, Canada, and some European nations.

“We also need some self-respect,” Bharathi said, as she recalled tales of mistreatment and humiliation at the workplace at a private hospital in Tiruchirappalli. 

Bharathi hoped to “earn a lot more, have better working hours and help her family out of poverty”, if she sought work outside India. Private agencies have quoted Rs 80,000-Rs 3 lakh as the cost registration, certification, agent fees and other costs of finding a job abroad. She can’t afford this, and is considering borrowing money. 

Studies have shown the employment satisfaction rate of nurses in India is low. Besides, Indian migrants working even in low-skill jobs still earned approximately 1.5-3-times more than they would back home, according to an ILO report.

“Some skilled labourers in India earn more than nurses,” Devika said, frustrated that after four years of study, she still can’t earn a decent wage or repay a loan that she had taken to fund her nursing study.

Siju Thomas, joint secretary of the Indian Professional Nurses Association, called this a “huge financial loot” by private agencies, which was a challenge faced by nurses who want to go abroad. 

OF LAWS AND ILLEGAL ROUTES

Smitha Chandran, a trainer and project officer at the state-run Centre for Management Development in Kerala, speaks to final-year nursing students about safe migration at the SIMET College of Nursing Palluruthy on February 5, 2025, in Ernakulam, Kerala. The training is provided by Kerala state’s Department of Non-Resident Keralites Affairs (NoRKA), which tackles migration governance. Ashish K Vincent/The Migration Story

India has laws in place that require people applying for jobs abroad or migrating there to seek work to get clearances from authorities before they travel. The illegal routes have thrived on the desperation of many seeking better lives and the many cracks in the enforcement of these laws.

Several Indian states such as Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab have “NRI departments” to address the interests and welfare of the Non-Resident Indians (NRI), and to ameliorate procedural delays. 

Many healthcare professionals may not migrate as nurses but as cleaning workers or on non-work visas, said Santosh Mahindrakar, a clinical nurse who also has a doctorate in public health, and works in Germany. Once abroad, they start with unskilled jobs and work towards finding relevant employment, he said. 

India’s Ministry of External Affairs has also been offering pre-departure orientation training since 2018, their trainings aimed at improving the ‘soft skills’ of Indian migrant workers headed chiefly for the Gulf region and Malaysia. The trainings are focussed on the culture, language, traditions and local rules and regulations of the destination country, and sensitise migrant workers about safe and legal migration and various government programmes set up for their welfare and protection. 

NoRKA is considered and cited as one of the more successful state efforts to tackle the problem, with other states trying to emulate it for an elusive solution to the illegal migration problem from their states.

In 2024, senior officials from northern Punjab, which has one of the highest cases of illegal migrants to Canada and the US, said it will adopt the “Kerala model” of migration governance. 

Kerala set up NoRKA in 1996, but it has stepped up work on migration governance in recent years. It works on creating diaspora networks, with programmes offering financial and legal aid to migrants, capital assistance to returnees who wish to set up businesses in India. Its safe migration trainings have gained traction in recent years. The state has also signed bilateral agreements for orderly recruitment. For instance, in 2021, it became the first state agency in India to sign an agreement with the German government for the deployment of healthcare professionals. So far over 1,400 Kerala nurses have been recruited, an official said. 

K Vasuki, secretary of NoRKA said the agency tackled illegal migration even in the past but  “more on a reactive basis”. “As soon as we get complaints, we act. But now, we are hoping to create a framework where you take a proactive step, so that's what we are planning to do,” she said.

But agencies scamming desperate aspirants continue to make headlines in the state.

Migration ‘consultants’, as they describe themselves, often target students by offering them part-time jobs in foreign countries as a step towards permanent residency.

While firms engaged in overseas recruitment need to seek the approval of the MEA’s Protector of Emigrants and obtain an Recruitment Agent (RA) license, many operators skip the license. NoRKA officials admit that while there are 250 registered agencies in Kerala, “many” are unregistered.

The Kerala police have registered cases against fraudulent agencies promising migration to different countries illegally. Data from the government’s e-migrate – an online platform that helps Indian workers find employment abroad – show complaints were registered against 208 Kerala agencies. Last year, the state formed a task force to check illegal migration. Officials said NoRKA coordinates with the police to tackle these complaints, and operates a helpline too. 

 “NoRKA addresses migration in a 360-degree angle, we are covering all stages of migration and migration governance,” said Ajith Kolassery, NoRKA’s chief executive officer, adding the agency’s founding objectives was to promote safe, ethical, legal and transparent migration from the state.

But he admits the challenge is way bigger..

“My experience is that it's not easy to take action against these illegal agencies,” Kolassery said. “In most of these cases, they are working remotely and outside the ambit of the law-enforcing agencies.”

THE SAFE ROUTE

Final year nursing students at the SIMET College of Nursing Palluruthy discuss a handout on safe migration at an awareness programme offered by the Kerala state’s Department of Non-Resident Keralites Affairs (NoRKA) on February 5, 2025, in Ernakulam, Kerala. Ashish K Vincent/The Migration Story

Akhil Alex, 37, works at a psychiatric facility in a small town in Kerala. In 2023, he came across an advertisement calling for nurses to work in Germany. He didn’t think much of it: he’s seen countless such ads over the years. But he decided to respond to this one because it was advertised by NoRKA. 

After interviews, he was selected. As part of the job offer, he had to undergo German language training before he could get a contract and visa. He learnt that he had to bear minimal charges. “Everything is provided by NoRKA or the recruiters, including the study materials. The students should allocate sufficient time for studying,” he said.

The NoRKA Institute of Foreign Language has helped 1,390 students sit for occupational English tests, IELTS and German language training in the last 15 months, a NoRKA official said.

This is part of the Kerala-Germany Triple Win Programme, Kolassery said. The project places qualified nurses with German companies. NoRKA is the first agency in India to sign such an agreement with Germany which is struggling to fill a vacuum of skilled workers. 

Bilateral agreements with countries seeking healthcare workers are one of the best ways to ensure safe migration, experts said.

In 2024, a WHO paper reviewed bilateral agreements on health worker migration said, “health workers’ rights and welfare are increasingly incorporated across most agreements. At the same time, gender considerations are typically absent in the agreement texts, despite health being a heavily gendered area of service provision.”

Kerala has agreements with several countries or states, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Austria, Germany, the UK (Wales, Yorkshire and National Health Services) and Canada (Newfoundland and Labrador). Kolassery said they are in talks with Finland, Denmark, Japan and a few others as well. 

In December 2024, a representative of the Indian government said Italy planned to recruit 65,000 nurses from Kerala. In January 2024, Denmark, which has strict immigration policies, announced it was planning to recruit 12,000 nurses from India and the Philippines. 

Alex has completed German language training and is awaiting his work visa. He is hoping work-life balance is finally around the corner after a decade of working on a meagre salary and often 16-hour shifts. He laughs thinking about what he’d like to do on his days off in Germany: “I am a huge football fan. I used to dream as a child that one day I would be sitting in the Allianz Arena stadium to watch Bundesliga matches. Maybe I’ll do that soon.” 

Mahima Jain is an award-winning independent journalist covering health, gender and environment.