Bangladeshi migrant jobseekers now won’t have to pay private recruiting agencies to get work visas for Saudi Arabia.
The kingdom, Bangladesh’s largest overseas labour market, made the announcement after it lifted a seven-year ban on recruitment of Bangladeshi male workers on Wednesday.
“Bangladeshi workers won’t need to pay any money to recruiting agencies for obtaining work visas. Now, their Saudi employers will bear all the costs, including air fares and service charges for recruiting agents,” Golam Moshi, Bangladesh ambassador to Saudi Arabia, told The Daily Star over the phone yesterday.
On Riyadh’s decision to open the labour market to Bangladeshis in all sectors, the ambassador said the Saudi authorities would follow the same recruitment process it does for workers from Sri Lanka, India and Nepal.
Saudi Arabia, home to some 13 lakh Bangladeshi migrant workers, imposed the restriction in early 2008, alleging malpractices in the recruitment system. The decision led to a decline in labour migration from Bangladesh to the Middle East country.
A total of 1.32 lakh Bangladeshis migrated to the oil-rich nation in 2008 but the number drastically dropped to 14,666 in 2009, show official data.
Since then, Saudi job market was beyond the reach of Bangladeshi male workers. Some male workers, however, got visas through their relatives or agencies by spending Tk 5 lakh to Tk 10 lakh each.
Last year, the Saudi government hinted that it would lift the ban on the recruitment of Bangladeshi workers.
In February last year, Dhaka and Riyadh signed a memorandum of understanding which said the Gulf country would hire only domestic workers.
More than 60,000 female domestic workers found jobs in Saudi Arabia but the oil-rich nation didn’t proceed to hire male workers.
On Wednesday, the Saudi Arabian labour and social development ministry lifted the ban on the recruitment of Bangladeshi male workers after seven years, according to a report published in Arab News yesterday.
The decision comes at a time when the Saudi economy is hit by falling oil prices. Many Saudi companies have suspended construction projects, resulting in job losses for foreign workers, including Bangladeshis.
FOREIGN MINISTRY STATEMENT
In a press release yesterday, Bangladesh foreign ministry confirmed the lifting of the ban by Saudi Arabia.
“The opening of the recruitment is indeed the culmination of unremitting efforts of Bangladesh. It was high on agenda during the visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to KSA in June 2016. Certainly her fruitful meeting with the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud greatly contributed to the outcome,” it said.
“The people and the government of Bangladesh express their deep gratitude to King Salman for this generous gesture towards Bangladesh and for his continued support to the country.”
“The new decision would pave the way to build up strong economic ties between the two brotherly countries for mutual benefits… Now, all categories of workers including skilled and semi skilled as well as professionals such as doctors, engineers, teachers and nurses from Bangladesh could be recruited for working in Saudi Arabia,” it noted.
During her visit to the kingdom, the Bangladesh PM urged Saudi investors to invest in skill development training centres in Bangladesh and assured them of all-out support and cooperation, it said.
Saudi investors recently entered into an agreement with the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) for setting up four training centres in Dhaka, Chittagong, Manikganj and Mymensingh, added the foreign ministry.
ARE WORK VISAS ABSOLUTELY FREE?
Asked about the recruitment process and costs, Ambassador Moshi said the Saudi companies or employers would inform the Saudi labour ministry online about their demands for workers.
The ministry would issue work visas for the workers, and then the recruiting agencies would complete visa processing.
“Since no worker from Sri Lanka, India and Nepal spends any money to get a job in Saudi Arabia, our Bangladeshi workers also won’t have to pay the agencies,” he said.
The envoy, however, mentioned that the workers may need to spend some money only for medical check-up.
Moshi also claimed that private recruiting agents wouldn’t get any scope to exploit the workers or do illegal visa trade, as both the Saudi and Bangladesh governments decided to impose strict conditions on the agencies for visa processing, he claimed.
However, Ruhul Amin, secretary general of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira), told this correspondent that it wouldn’t be possible for the workers to get visas without spending money until reforms are brought to the existing recruitment process followed by the agencies.
“We want that our people get scope to go abroad for jobs by paying little or no money. But both the governments must put in place such a recruitment process which would ensure that,” he said.
Source: The Daily Star
