Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain admitted yesterday that a good number of Bangladeshis were going abroad for jobs on student or tourist visas.
He also remarked that the immigration department should stop such fraudulent activities in the greater interest of sustaining the overseas labour market for genuine migrant workers.
“It does not fall under the purview of my ministry to check unethical migration. If the immigration officials at the airport watch properly, they can check it easily,” Mosharraf told reporters at his ministry.
Officials at the Immigration Department and the Expatriates’ Welfare Desk at Dhaka airport also confirmed that many people were using student or tourist visas to go abroad for work.
“As per the law, we cannot bar anybody from going abroad,” an immigration official said, seeking anonymity.
The minister briefed reporters about his recent trip to Sweden to attend the Global Forum on Migration and Development conference, held May 14-16. “We placed a proposal for migrant workers to go abroad free of cost, with employers bearing all the costs,” Mosharraf said.
He claimed that different international organisations had supported Bangladesh’s proposal.
“I also met the ILO director general [Guy Ryder] and he assured me of playing a role so that migration can happen with zero migration cost,” he added.
According to ILO Convention 181, migrant workers should not have to pay to go abroad for jobs.
Expatriates’ Welfare Secretary Shawkat Hossain and BMET DG Shamsun Nahar were also present.
