A month-long amnesty began in Iraq on November 3 with all illegal foreign workers including up to 8,000 Bangladeshis told to acquire the legal right to remain, or face deportation from the country.
The Bangladesh embassy in Baghdad informed the foreign ministry and the expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment ministry in Dhaka that Iraqi security forces would carry out a drive to catch and deport illegal workers after the amnesty deadline expires.
“We have requested our illegal workers to become legalised within the stipulated time,” the embassy said in a letter, signed by Labour Counsellor Md Ziadur Rahman.
The embassy said there was no accurate data on the number of Bangladeshis working illegally in Iraq, but the number could be between 5,000 and 8,000.
Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) Director General Shamsun Nahar on Tuesday told journalists that Iraq would legalise illegal Bangladeshi workers, but she did not know about the deadline.
Iraq resumed recruitment of both skilled and unskilled workers from Bangladesh in 2009 as the war-torn country needed a huge number of people for its reconstruction.
BMET figures show that until October 2013, Iraq recruited a total of 8,870 workers from Bangladesh. Of them, some 5,577 workers got jobs there this year.
Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said earlier that Iraq planned to recruit doctors, drivers, construction workers and cleaners from Bangladesh.