The first batch of 11 skilled female migrant workers is scheduled to fly to Hong Kong on Friday.
After receiving three months’ training at Keraniganj Technical Training Centre, these migrants are going to Hong Kong on a Dragon Airlines flight to work as housemaids, said Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) Director Nurul Islam.
Abdul Alim, the proprietor of the private recruiting agency SA Trading, said 200 female workers were taught Cantonese and English, child rearing, Chinese food processing and housekeeping. “A total of 30 visas have already been issued,” he told the Dhaka Tribune on Wednesday night.
A female migrant worker will get a monthly wage of $505 (Tk40,400) while her accommodation and food costs are free.
According to BMET officials, a migrant worker has to pay Tk20,000 to the private recruiting agency as service charge, including manpower clearance and government tax.
The Hong Kong-based recruiting agency is taking $1,300 (Tk104,000) from each female worker. The BMET officials said the amount includes airfare, and training in Bangladesh and Hong Kong. The workers are paying the Hong Kong recruiting agency by loan from Probashi Kallyan Bank (expatriates’ welfare bank). The repayments will be deducted from their wages over nine months.
The deputy managing director of the bank, Md Kefayetullah, told the Dhaka Tribune on Wednesday that 13 Hong Kong-bound workers had received the loans.
Under the public-private partnership, the BMET signed an agreement with Technic Employment Services Limited, a Hong Kong-based recruiting agency, to send workers. According to the agreement, workers would initially be recruited for two years, with the contract that can be renewed for three more years.
