The Expatriates’ welfare ministry has taken up an initiative to revise the costs for international migration, with the aim of making the step more realistic for the labour force. The issue came up during a meeting at the ministry’s employment wing last November. Currently, the government lists migration costs for 16 labour-receiving countries at a maximum of Tk 1.66 lakh and a minimum of Tk 97,780. However, workers often have to pay hefty amounts to intermediaries to secure jobs overseas.
If the government’s revised fees increase existing costs, then this will be a terrible step for the country’s migrant aspirants. While many countries now focus on the “employer pay model”, increase in migration fee is sheer negligence to the plights of countrymen. For Saudi Arabia, the government in 2016 fixed Tk 1.65 lakh as the cost of migration while “zero cost” for female domestic workers. The grim picture dragged out by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics is that the average recruitment cost for Bangladeshi migrants was Tk 4.17 lakh between 2015 and 2018.
While the government said no formal complaints regarding extra recruitment fees are raised, the recruiters said they couldn’t recruit employees following the government-defined fees. If the government fails to enforce its decision upon the recruiters, why this mockery in paper and pen with the people, desperately seeking bread and butter. Meanwhile, airfares for flights to different Middle Eastern countries have doubled since last month, adding pressure on migrant workers returning to their workplaces. In November, airfares for different Middle Eastern countries were between Tk 40,000 and Tk 45,000 that rose between Tk 70,000 and Tk 90,000, which is totally illogical and unexpected.
The migrant workers pump up the wheel of the economy by their hard labour, but in return received nothing before and after migration. The migration policy is not supportive; while the missions are not cooperative and when they return home empty, get nothing from the state. We must change our view towards the unsung heroes.
