The provision of basic skills to manage finances can have a considerable impact on the choice of modes of remittance transfers, expenditure preferences, savings behaviour and options for converting remittances into assets.
Private intermediaries are prohibited by law from requiring fees from migrant workers. The U.S. Department of Labor prohibits employers from accepting or requesting money from migrants for recruitment costs (H-2A: 20 C.F.R. § 655.135(j). H-2B: 20 C.F.R. 503.16(o)), and also requires employers to contractually forbid their labor recruiters from seeking or accepting payments from prospective employees (20 C.F.R. § 655.135(k)).
In 2006 CIETT endorsed its Code of Conduct of the International Confederation of Private Employment Agencies. The Code of Conduct was revised in 2015 to align even more closely with efforts on fair recruitment at the international level and is a reflection of the organizations endorsement of the ILO's Convention No. 181 on Private Employment Agencies.
Malaysia and Indonesia signed an MOU on the Recruitment and Placement of Indonesian Domestic Workers on 15 May 2006, amended by a Protocol on 30 May 2011, which provides protections for domestic workers.
Although domestic workers are explicitly excluded from protections under the Labour Law in GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries, in June 2015 a separate law regulating the domestic work sector was adopted by Kuwait’s national assembly, providing some labour rights to this vulnerable group of workers – including a minimum wage. The lack of a credible mechanism to enforce this law remains a shortcoming however.
In 2016 IFAD launched its 6th Global Call for Proposals: Scaling Up Remittances (SURE) aiming at financing innovative models to increase economic opportunities for the rural poor by leveraging the impact of remittances and diaspora investment for rural development.
Employment Protection for Foreign Nationals Act (Live-in Caregivers and Others), 2009,163 (Bill 210) prohibits a recruiter from charging a foreign national who is employed as a live-in caregiver a fee, directly or indirectly, for any service, good or benefit provided to the foreign national. Bill 210 also prohibits an employer from directly or indirectly recovering or attempting to recover any cost incurred by the employer in the course of arranging to employ the foreign national.
Remittance price comparison websites can increase market transparency and encourage greater competition. Examples include Saver Asia and SendMoneyPacific.
This Directive, adopted by the European Parliament and the Council in 2008, aims to guarantee protection to temporary workers by recognizing temporary work agencies as employers, while encouraging greater diversity in contractual employment arrangements.
The Bangladesh Bank, national commercial banks, and public commercial banks have created a number of investment products aimed specifically at migrants and their families. These products include bonds, deposit pension schemes (DPS), fixed deposits, savings accounts, investment loans, and investments in capital markets through, for instance, the Non-Resident Investor’s Taka Account (NITA).