Nepal's own rules on who can go
The 2015 directive on sending domestic workers abroad limits this kind of migration to destinations with a government-to-government agreement, the six Gulf states, Lebanon, and Malaysia. It sets a minimum age of 24 and bars women with a child under two from going. Every cost, training, orientation, life and health insurance, the medical exam, visa, airfare, and welfare-fund contribution, is carried by the employer rather than the worker. An agency that sends domestic workers specifically also needs a separate registration with the Department of Foreign Employment on top of its standard licence, plus registration and a deposit at the destination country's embassy.
A pre-departure orientation certificate is mandatory for every Nepali migrant worker under the governing act and rules; leaving without one is illegal and gets checked at the airport. One source cites a 30-working-day course specifically for women entering domestic work, longer than the general orientation, though this wasn't independently cross-checked. Nepal has its own history of restricting women's domestic-work migration too: a broad ban in 2014, an easing around 2016 for women 24 and older through selected agencies, and a further tightening after a 2017 abuse report; the 24-year minimum age rule remains in force and was still being contested by advocates as of August 2026.
Malaysia's side of the process, and the dispute now affecting it
On the Malaysian side, the employer's agency first needs KDN quota approval through the Foreign Worker Centralised Management System, then submits a demand letter for attestation by the Nepali Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, alongside an application letter, a letter of undertaking, a labour-department-attested demand letter, the signed employment contract, a power of attorney valid for up to two years, hostel accreditation, and company profile documents, all on original letterhead, photocopies aren't accepted. The embassy's attestation page carries no domestic-worker-specific exemption, unlike some other source countries that route domestic workers through a dedicated training or certification track.
That exact attestation step is what's currently stuck: since 22 August 2026, the Nepali Embassy in Kuala Lumpur has stopped certifying demand letters from the 25 principal agencies Malaysia's system authorises (each allowed up to 10 affiliates), because Nepal's government wants all roughly 1,100 licensed agencies eligible instead. Only quotas issued before 22 August 2026 continue processing, and the joint technical committee between the two governments hadn't met as of a report dated 13 September 2026. That report discusses Nepal's broader workforce in Malaysia, roughly 400,000 people across sectors, and doesn't say whether the domestic-worker channel specifically is included or excluded, so check for news dated after that before treating the corridor as open or closed.
Figures to confirm before you budget
The household-income figure for Nepal is inconsistent on Immigration's own page: one check this session returned RM3,000 for Nepal, a second, more careful check of the identical page found no Nepal row in that table at all. Two independent agency sources separately put the figure at RM5,000, in line with the Philippine and Sri Lankan helper brackets, which makes it the better-supported number, but it still isn't confirmed on the primary source itself. A personal bond figure for Nepal couldn't be reliably found either, an RM1,500 figure that surfaced came from the same inconsistent check and shouldn't be trusted. Confirm both directly with Immigration or your agency.
No Malaysia-specific minimum wage set by Nepal for its domestic workers was found, unlike some Gulf destinations where Nepal does set a wage floor for this work. Nepal's own domestic minimum wage is a within-Nepal labour-law figure that doesn't apply to overseas placement, don't confuse the two when an agency quotes a salary.