Hiring Nepali workers in Italy: demand letter and DoFE approval

To hire a Nepali worker in Italy an employer issues a demand letter, has it attested by the Embassy of Nepal in Rome, which covers Italy, and then takes the file through Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Foreign Employment. Recruitment starts only after DoFE approval. The Italian side runs in parallel.

The demand letter and the attested package

The demand letter is the document in which the Italian employer states that it wants a defined number of Nepali workers on defined terms. It is not a letter of intent. Nepali missions require it to state the number of posts, the occupation, the pay and the contractual conditions, accommodation and duration included. A demand letter reading "general labourers, salary to be agreed" will not clear consular attestation.

The package attested by the Nepali mission consists of four documents, filed together:

• the demand letter signed by the employer;
• the power of attorney authorising the Nepali agency to recruit on the employer's behalf;
• the agreement between the two agencies, setting out the relationship between the Italian and the Nepali side;
• the service contract, fixing the terms and fees of recruitment.

The four documents have to agree with one another. A different headcount in the demand letter and in the power of attorney is the most ordinary reason for a file being sent back, and it forces the whole attestation to be repeated.

Who validates what, and in what order

The Nepali chain has three stations, and none of them accepts a document that has not cleared the one before it.

Consular attestation on its own is not enough. Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs must verify its own mission's act before the DoFE will accept the pre approval request. This is the step first time employers skip most often: they send the attested package straight to the agency, the agency files it at the DoFE, and the file comes back without ever being registered.

Recruitment itself runs through a Nepali agency licensed by the DoFE, or through a direct hire that has been expressly authorised. Checking the agency licence before signing the power of attorney is a ten minute check that saves rebuilding the package: a power of attorney issued to an unlicensed party carries no weight at the DoFE.

The Nepali work permit and the Italian nulla osta

DoFE approval covers the employer's request. It comes before, but does not replace, the Nepali work permit issued to the individual worker before departure. No worker leaves Nepal for foreign employment without that individual permit, and the DoFE issues it only against an already approved request.

On the Italian side the entry clearance, the nulla osta, runs against the decreto flussi quotas. The two chains are formally independent and practically linked: the Italian visa needs the nulla osta, departure needs the Nepali permit, and the entry date is set by whichever runs slower. Employers who plan mobilisation against one calendar are late every time. Quotas and filing windows are set out in the decreto flussi quotas for 2026 to 2028, and the steps after arrival in the work residence permit procedure.

Attestation fees, agency service fees and Nepali filing costs sit on top of the Italian ones, which we have set out in the cost of hiring a non EU worker in Italy. For a read of a file before the power of attorney is signed, use the employers page.

The Nepali corridor rewards consistent files. When the four documents state the same headcount, the same occupation and the same pay, attestation in Rome and approval at the DoFE are predictable steps. When they do not, the time lost is not recovered further down the chain.