Workers from Bangladesh are expected to start travelling to Malaysia in December under a government initiative that will initially send them at no cost, Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Ariful Haque Choudhury has said.
He made the announcement at a meeting with recruiting agencies registered under the Foreign Workers Central Management System (FWCMS) at the Probashi Kallyan Bhaban in Dhaka on Thursday.
“We want workers to start travelling in December, the month of victory. The first two or three flights will be completely free of cost. Recruitment against new demands will also begin alongside this,” the minister said.
He said the government was working to secure job demands from Malaysian employers as quickly as possible. Under the free-of-cost arrangement, workers would not have to pay any money, including service charges imposed in Bangladesh. The government is also considering publishing job notices online and selecting workers through an online lottery.
The minister said recruiting agencies had agreed that migration costs for workers travelling through private arrangements should be capped at Tk2.5–3 lakh, a move he said would benefit ordinary people.
He added that the government wanted all recruiting agencies under the ministry to have the opportunity to send workers to Malaysia, rather than restricting the process to a select group of around 300 agencies.
A new memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Malaysia is expected to be signed on December 31, when the existing MoU expires. The minister urged agencies to remain patient, saying the government wanted to move away from the previous system of limiting opportunities through restrictive agreements.
On medical examinations, he said the government had fixed the fee at Tk8,000 and was reviewing medical centres. He warned that any centre found involved in irregularities would be removed from the approved list, regardless of its influence.
The minister also said job demands submitted by recruiting agencies would need approval from the Bangladesh embassy and Malaysia’s human resources ministry. Agencies would have to provide individual undertakings confirming that jobs were available for all workers they sought to recruit.
The government is also considering setting up a support cell abroad to assist Bangladeshi workers facing problems in Malaysia.
