The state recruitment agency has revised the cost of migration for outbound workers after almost six years to make it more worker-friendly.
The Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Limited (BOESL), the lone recruiter of the government, approved the revised charges for different countries at its board meeting recently, said officials.
Revised recruitment costs for nine countries include Kuwait, Jordan, Seychelles, Croatia, Mauritius, Bulgaria, Australia, Fiji and Russia.
The BOESL last revised recruitment fees in 2016.
The rates have been revised for the countries in question under skilled and professional categories.
The revised costs are Tk52,850 and Tk41,250 respectively for Kuwait, Seychelles, Australia, Fiji and Russia.
But the rate remained unchanged for Seychelles-bound skilled category workers at Tk26,800 each.
Earlier, recruitment fees for professionals were Tk87,340 each and Tk52,740 for each skilled worker.
On the other hand, Jordan-bound labour counsellors will pay Tk30,000 from the earlier Tk87,340.
However, the cost increased to Tk41,250 from Tk38,940 for skilled workers to Mauritius and Croatia.
The cost for Bulgaria-bound garment workers (skilled) has been re-fixed at Tk52,850 from Tk52,740.
The costs include service charge, wage earners' welfare fee, pre-exit processing and training fee, insurance and smartcard fee.
However, airfare is mostly borne by the employers.
However, the rates have remained unchanged for garment workers bound for Jordan and Romania.
Domestic workers for Honk Kong and South Korea-bound workers under the employment permit system (EPS) also remained unchanged.
The agency is also exploring new markets to increase employment opportunities.
Recently, it has started sending workers to Malaysia without migration costs.
Malaysia will hire 10,000 workers for different sectors, especially in its plantation sector, through the state-run recruiter.
The BOESL was established in 1984. It sends workers to more than 30 countries, mainly to Jordan and South Korea.
The agency has so far sent more than 115,000 workers to different job destination countries.
Migrant rights activists have called for further decreased service charges by BOESL to make it worker-friendly.
