NOC for a job change: asking your employer in Nepal, and the rules abroad

An NOC for a job change is a short letter from your present employer, on its letterhead, saying it has no objection to you applying for or joining another job. In Nepali it is अनापत्ति पत्र or अनापत्ति प्रमाणपत्र. It names you, your post and the new organisation or post. Someone with authority signs and stamps it.

Three other letters get confused with it. A resignation acceptance or relieving letter says you have left. An experience letter says what you did. An NOC comes while you still work there, so that you can apply or join elsewhere. Some organisations want it with the application, others only on joining day.

The letter itself is on our NOC page: what it means, what it must contain and the full standard wording. Your employer can make one there on its letterhead. Going abroad to study? The NOC you need is the Ministry of Education's, not your employer's. See NOC for abroad study.

We found no Nepali law that makes an NOC compulsory for every job change. The organisation you are going to asks for it, and its advertisement, notice or checklist says so. Read that first. It tells you who must sign and what the letter must say.

1. 1Read what is asked for. Note the exact wording the new employer, exam or embassy wants, who the letter must be addressed to, and the deadline.
2. 2Ask the right person, in writing. That is HR or the head of office: whoever can grant leave or accept a resignation. A line manager saying "fine by me" is not an NOC.
3. 3Say what it is for, and when. Give the new organisation or exam, the post, and the date you would join. Offer a handover plan and the notice period in your appointment letter.
4. 4Attach a draft. A busy office signs a ready letter faster. Your employer can make one with our NOC maker: it takes the organisation, your name, post and purpose, and prints on the letterhead.
5. 5Keep a copy and a date. Send an email, or hand in a निवेदन and get a दर्ता number. If nothing comes within a week, ask again, politely and in writing.
6. 6Check the letter before you leave the office. It needs the letterhead, a reference number, the date, your name as on your citizenship or passport, the purpose, a signature and the stamp.

For a government office, a school or a campus, ask with a निवेदन rather than an email, and have it registered (दर्ता). This sample is for a Lok Sewa or other government post. For a university, change the middle paragraph to the campus, the programme and the class hours. For a private employer, give its name and your joining date.

• Ask for the reason in writing. It is usually a handover, an unfinished notice period, a training bond or money owed. Each has a fix.
• Offer the fix. Serve the notice in your appointment letter, finish the handover, or settle the bond as your agreement says.
• Ask the new organisation what else it accepts. Many take a resignation acceptance, a relieving letter or an experience letter once you have left.
• Resign properly. If you are leaving anyway, a dated resignation with the right notice is your record. Write it with the resignation letter maker and keep proof that it was received.
• In government service, a refusal is an administrative decision. Ask for it in writing, and ask your administration section how it can be reviewed.
• Salary or dues held back to stop you leaving is a separate matter from the NOC. Ask the labour office (श्रम कार्यालय) that covers your area.

For most Nepali workers in the Gulf, no. Qatar (2020), Saudi Arabia (2021) and Oman (2021) dropped the old employer's permission. The UAE's labour law of 2021 does not ask for it, and Bahrain lets you move after 12 months on your permit. Each country sets its own conditions, mostly a notice period and a minimum time in the job. Malaysia has no such route.

The table below is from each government's own law or service page, read on 28 October 2026. Rules change, so check the ministry's page before you resign.

• Qatar: if you leave the country without serving your notice, you cannot get a new Qatar work permit for one year (Law No. 18 of 2020, articles 39 and 49). Hukoomi says you need a work residency and a phone number registered in your own name.
• UAE: u.ae warns that a worker who quits during probation, when the employer has not broken the contract, can be barred from a new work permit for a year. Count your probation dates first.
• Saudi Arabia: the 12 months count from the day you entered the Kingdom. Before that, you need your employer's agreement. Open the offer on Qiwa yourself. A screenshot is not an offer.
• Bahrain: keep working for your present employer until LMRA approves the transfer. A request in the last three months of your permit needs your employer's consent. If your permit has expired, you need a new permit, not a transfer.
• Oman: the 2020 decision covers moving when your contract ends or is terminated. We could not confirm the rule for moving in the middle of a contract. Ask the Ministry of Labour or the embassy.
• Malaysia: the conditions of the worker's pass say a change of employer or sector is not allowed. An offer from another company is not a legal move unless the government approves it.
• Everywhere: see the new contract or offer in the official system (Qatar's Ministry of Labour, MOHRE, Qiwa or LMRA) before you resign. To check a visa, use the visa check by passport number guide.

Your labour permit (श्रम स्वीकृति) names one country and one company, and DoFE's records show the company on your last permit. When you change company abroad, the new company goes on record with the next re-entry permit, the one you take before flying back after leave. We found no DoFE rule saying you must apply at the moment you switch while you stay abroad.

DoFE's citizen charter covers this case. Its re-entry permit (पुनः श्रम स्वीकृति) is for going back to the same country, to the same company or a different one. For a changed company it asks for your contract with the new company. The permit is free, and you apply online in FEIMS.

1. 1Before you fly home on leave, make sure you have your new contract and your new visa or residence card.
2. 2Log in to FEIMS (your user ID is your passport number) and apply for re-entry. Upload your passport, with at least three months left, your valid visa and the new company's contract. Papers in any language other than Nepali or English need a translation.
3. 3Pay the welfare fund, the insurance and the Social Security Fund contribution again. The charter asks for proof of all three. The labour permit cost calculator shows the amounts for your contract and age.
4. 4Do not expect an instant approval. DoFE's notice of 2083/02/18 (about 1 June 2026) made re-entry automatic only for the same country and the same company as your last permit.
5. 5Once it is issued, look it up on DoFE's Passport Search and check that it shows the new company.
6. 6Going to a different country is not a re-entry. That needs a new labour permit: see the labour permit guide.

• Someone offers to sell you an NOC or a "release letter" to change jobs in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE or Oman. Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman dropped the NOC, and the UAE's law does not ask for one, so a bought letter gets you nothing.
• An agent says a letter can move you to a new company in Malaysia. In Malaysia, a change needs the government's permission.
• You are told to stop work, or fly home, before the transfer is approved. Bahrain requires you to keep working until then. In Qatar, leaving the country without serving your notice brings a one-year ban on a new work permit.
• You are asked to pay for the transfer itself. Qatar's change-of-employer service is free (Hukoomi), and so is Saudi Arabia's freedom of movement service (HRSD).
• The new contract arrives only as a photo or a PDF and cannot be found on the official system.
• Someone in Nepal offers to "fix" a re-entry permit for your new company for a fee. DoFE charges nothing for the permit. The cost calculator page explains how to complain about an agency.