Reza Mahmud :
Illegal visa selling is blamed for increasing cost of migration of Bangladeshi workers abroad, though the government has adopted a law in this regard to stop this unlawful activity.
According to the Expatriate Welfare Law adopted in 2013, if any one illegally involved in selling or buying of visa he will be sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.
But this practice of illegal visa selling has not been stopped so far, it was alleged.
“Although there is a very limited number of visa for workers, a huge number of Bangladeshis are keen to go abroad for work. It creates competition among the workers,” Bangladesh International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) Secretary General Md. Ruhul Amin Swapan told The New Nation on Sunday.
He added: “Then they (workers) go to the brokers and offer more money above of reasonable stage. That is why the illegal visa selling is continuing. But we are trying to stop it.” According to migrant workers, when the citizens of Philippines, India, Nepal and Pakistan recover their costs of migrations abroad within three to four months on arrival, the Bangladeshi workers need minimum two years. “When a Pakistani or Indian migrant worker recover his cost within three to four months, we the Bangladeshi workers try our heart and soul to recover the expenses within two years,” Rezaul Karim, a migrant worker from Saudi Arabia said. Sources at the Ministry of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment said, the cost of a worker to be migrated to Saudi Arabia is Tk 165,000. But the workers have to pay the agencies or brokers minimum Tk 600,000 to go there. At the same way, a worker need to pay Tk 37,575 to get a job in Malaysia, while the reality is, every migrant has to pay Tk 3 to 4 lakh for this.
Some BAIRA leaders have blamed illegal selling of visa as the main cause of increasing cost of workers’ migration abroad. They alleged that some recruiting agencies are also involved in selling group visa illegally. When any foreign company gives order to such agencies to recruit a group of workers for them, they sell the visa to other agencies or brokers at high rate. They also impose their profits on those visas, which increased the cost of migrants. But it is prohibited to sell visa to others.
Apart of these, a section of dishonest officials of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) and the concern ministry also collect grafts from the expatriates while they go to those offices.
In this circumstance, the Ministry of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment has formed a Vigilance Taskforce recently headed by a joint secretary to monitor the irregularities in this sector. The taskforce has talked with the expatriate workers in different times at airports in Dhaka and Chittagong. They found that the Bangladeshi migration workers’ cost is two to three times higher than the India and Pakistani migrants due to the illegal visa selling practice and corruptions of some officials. When contacted Begum Shamsun Nahar, Secretary of the Ministry of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment, said, “There is no chance to sell visa. The proper application of the law must be ensured.”
