“The Labour Ministry, Foreign Employment Bureau, and other institutions jointly are going to conduct a survey in the next few days to find out the plight of Sri Lankan migrants.”

“We will be addressing the housing needs of those migrants’ families while obtaining the details with the help of the Housing Ministry and National Housing Development Authority.”

Some Sri Lankans do not register in the Foreign Employment Bureau when they leave the country for blue collar jobs, while most professionals including doctors, care givers, and engineers never get registered, government officials say.

Sri Lanka has witnessed an increase in the brain drain since the country officially declared a sovereign debt default in April last year.