Non - Resident Keralites Affairs Department (NORKA)

According to the Kerala Migration Survey, there are 22 lakh migrant workers from Kerala, 90% are in Gulf Cooperation Council countries. On 6th December 1996, the Government of Kerala launched the Department of Non-Resident Keralite's Affairs (NORKA) to redress the grievances of non-resident Keralites both in India and abroad and to have a sustainable partnership with them. NORKA is the first Department of its kind in India. NORKA ROOTS is a public sector undertaking under the Department. The Department has no Directorate, instead NORKA ROOTS implements the welfare schemes for the Government. In addition, NORKA ROOTS is licensed by the Protector General of Emigrants as a licensed recruiting agency. NORKA coordinates efforts for remedial action on threats to the lives and property of those who are left at home, for tracing missing persons abroad, for obtaining compensation from sponsors for taking action on cheating by recruiting agents and other such grievances of Non-Resident Keralites (NRKs). It provides assistance to evacuate NRKs from strife-torn areas and to transport them to their hometowns. NORKA attestation centres in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode provide attestation facilities for educational qualification documents. The Home Attestation officer attached to the Secretariat at Thiruvananthapuram can provide attestation of certificates of birth and death, residence, marriage certificates etc.