Sri Lanka has begun the year with a sharp acceleration in overseas labour migration, with 20,484 citizens leaving the country for foreign employment in January alone, according to the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau. The figure underscores the continued reliance on overseas jobs as a pillar of household income and national foreign exchange inflows, even as the government pushes to formalise and expand labour migration through bilateral agreements.
The bureau, which operates under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism, said it has set a target of sending 310,000 Sri Lankan workers abroad by 2026. Officials view the goal as achievable, pointing to sustained demand in the Middle East and East Asia, as well as the performance recorded in the previous year, when outbound migration exceeded expectations.
Kuwait has emerged as the single largest destination in current job requests, with 77,500 applications submitted, followed by the United Arab Emirates with 63,500. Demand remains strong in Qatar, which has received 44,000 requests, while 31,000 have been submitted for employment in Saudi Arabia. Applications have also been recorded across 17 other countries, reflecting a broad geographic spread in overseas labour demand.
Beyond traditional markets, Sri Lanka is preparing to expand worker deployment under formal programmes linked to memoranda of understanding signed with several countries. Under these arrangements, plans are in place to send 15,000 workers to Israel, 12,500 to Japan and 6,000 to South Korea by 2026, signalling a strategic shift towards diversified and, in some cases, higher-skilled labour destinations.
The renewed momentum follows a strong performance in 2025, when Sri Lanka exceeded its target of 300,000 foreign jobs by sending 311,207 workers overseas. That outflow translated into more than US$ 8 billion in worker remittances during the year, reinforcing the sector’s role as a critical source of foreign exchange at a time when the country continues to stabilise its economy.
With January’s figures already matching the reported total for the year so far, officials see early signs that 2026 targets could be within reach. As global labour demand evolves and bilateral agreements expand, Sri Lanka’s overseas employment drive remains central to both individual livelihoods and the country’s broader economic strategy.
