Business Desk :
Export of labour, as well as movement of travellers from Bangladesh are both set to increase in 2022 as the Covid-19 pandemic appears to be on the decline, not to mention the reopening of key labour markets.
Sources at the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) and Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira) told this.
However, they also said that issuing of passports by the Department of Immigration and Passports (DIP) needs to be increased to increase the flow.
After travel bans were relaxed by most countries, Bangladeshis have started travelling to different countries in good numbers, said a top official of the Tour Operator Association of Bangladesh (Toab.)
The cabinet of the Government of Malaysia on Friday agreed on the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Bangladesh on the recruitment of migrant workers for all sectors except plantation.
Malaysian Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri M Saravanan announced the development in a statement following the cabinet meeting, reports Malaysian state-run news agency Bernama.
As per the approval of the cabinet, the recruitment of migrant workers will be allowed for the agriculture, manufacturing, services, mining and quarrying, construction, and domestic service sectors.
Malaysia is home to around 800,000 Bangladeshis, according to an unofficial estimate. Sources said DIP now issues an electronic passport (e-passport) to an ordinary citizen in 3-4 months.
This duration was previously 3-4 weeks when DIP issued machine readable passports (MRP.) Sources said the logistics and manpower of DIP need to be increased to cope with existing workloads in the department.
Passport dilemma
While talking, two DIP assistant directors said that they were struggling with the existing workload, despite working relentlessly.
A professor of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) department of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) told that technological support and recruitment of technical personnel were crucial in speeding up DIP services.
A former home secretary said that during 2007-2008, the DIP issued passports to general applicants even if police verification were not filed on time.
However, if criminal evidence is found, the government can cancel his or her passport. “I told the DIP that a passport is the right of every citizen. Their service delivery needs to improve and harassment needs to be reduced,” he also said.
The former home secretary added that the DIP should easily issue e-passports to those who already have MRPs, preferably within a week or two.
Expressing concern about the harassment of expatriate workers in getting passports, a Baira official who also works at an overseas Bangladesh mission, said that DIP should speed up the process of issuing e-passports within the shortest possible time.
The movement of Bangladeshis was highly restricted in 2020, but relaxed in the latter half of this year.
Former Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Bangladesh Crisanthe De Silva told that a Sri Lankan receives their passport within a week after applying.
It is even possible for them to get it within a day after paying $50, he added.
Thai trade counsellor in Dhaka Khemathat Archawathamrong said that a Thai citizen could also get their passport in a week, while a Thai government official got theirs in a day or two.
Bangladesh officially entered the era of e-passports as the first South Asian country in January 2020.
Initially the e-Passports were issued from three offices – Uttara, Jatrabari and Agargaon – of the DIP in Dhaka. These offices had the capacity to issue 25,000 passports every day last year.
