South Korea has started taking workers from Bangladesh again.
On January 5 earlier this year, 92 Bangladeshi workers left the country for Korea on a Korean Air chartered flight from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.
This is the first batch of Bangladeshi expatriate workers to go to Korea this year.
This information has been given in a press release of the South Korean embassy in Dhaka recently.
It is pertinent to mention that due to the deteriorating situation of Covid, Bangladeshi workers stopped going to the country from last June.
Due to the pandemic, every economic sector of Bangladesh including garment exports was affected.
Manpower exports, the second largest source of foreign exchange earnings, also declined.
Not only that, migrant workers from many countries lost their jobs and were forced to return to the country in almost destitute conditions.
Many came to the country on holiday and got stuck.
There are serious problems with their return.
The country's labour export sector is slowly recovering from the economic shocks caused by the pandemic.
The demand for Bangladeshi workers is increasing in different countries of the world including the Middle East, Malaysia, and South Korea.
After a long time, the labour export sector is getting stronger again.
According to data, it has been possible to send more than 425,000 workers to the Middle East alone.
Malaysia has recently reopened another large labour market.
Saudi Arabia, the largest labour market, is now taking workers from South Asia only from Bangladesh.
Even in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) it has become much easier for Bangladeshis to get a visa.
Now South Korea is going to resume its intake of foreign workers as well. Many are going there too.
Challenges
But for some reason the suffering of the workers who want to go abroad is also increasing.
Airline companies have increased fares at an unusual rate on the pretext of increased demand.
These include the temptation of dishonest recruiting agencies and the deception of uncontrolled brokers. As a result, the migration cost of migrant workers is increasing drastically.
In the case of Covid-19, restrictions have been imposed at the airports of every country.
However, the authorities are trying to prevent any trouble and suffering in the case of passenger transport and air cargo everywhere.
International airports in Singapore, China, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, UAE, and even India have maintained uninterrupted air communication through efficient and well-managed airports.
As a result, domestic and foreign passengers are able to travel safely and comfortably.
The experience of managing the airports of those countries is instructive for us.
That being said, the price of air tickets has doubled in different countries.
The airline companies are taking huge amounts of money from the workers going abroad by showing an artificial crisis.
In this context, the Association of Travel Agencies of Bangladesh (ATAB) has demanded a reduction in air fares.
The Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Foreign Affairs has also made a similar request to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism.
It is time to take urgent action.
Covid-19 certificates
Expatriates are also facing the biggest hurdle in collecting certificates stating they are Covid-19 negative.
Employees are not able to collect the certificate in time due to various conditions.
The South Korean government suspended the recruitment of foreign workers in March 2020 due to Covid-19 and resumed the recruitment of expatriate workers last month.
Since its reopening, a total of 203 Bangladeshi expatriate workers have gone to Korea.
Last December, 111 Bangladeshi workers went to Korea. Of the 92 workers who left this year, 44 were newly recruited and the rest had already left.
South Korea shows interest in recruiting workers from Bangladesh. As a result, the demand for Bangladeshi workers is increasing overall.
But in this case our lack of preparation is strong.
It must be addressed quickly.
If the current opportunities are used properly, it will be possible to send several times more workers to the manpower importing country.
In this case, the obstacles created in labour export need to be removed quickly.
At the same time, the authorities are keen to reduce the airfare, increase the number of labs for corona testing, and intensify immunization activities, as well as expedite the resolution of existing bureaucratic complications.
South Korea has been accepting medium and low-skilled foreign workers from 16 countries, including Bangladesh, through the EPS (Employment Permit System) program.
The South Korean ambassador to Bangladesh Lee Jang-gun said Bangladesh's EPS personnel have played an important role in Korea-Bangladesh relations, contributing not only to Bangladesh's economic development but also to the labour force in the Korean industry.
He hopes that Korea will be able to accommodate more EPS personnel from Bangladesh in the coming years.
So far, more than 20,000 Bangladeshi workers have gone to Korea through the EPS system.
According to media reports, the South Korean government has been employing workers from 16 countries, including Bangladesh, under the Employment Permit System (EPS) since 2004.
Every year two-three thousand Bangladeshi workers are benefiting under this program.
At present, the number of Bangladeshi workers in Korea under this system is about 6,500, which was more than 10,000 before the pandemic.
In the fiscal year 2020-21, the amount of remittances of expatriate Bangladeshis in Korea reached a record high, which was $209 million.
South Korea is considered as the 13th largest source of remittances for Bangladesh.
The concerned authorities should take effective steps through coordination to remove all kinds of sufferings and difficulties in the field of immigration.
The author is a teacher and a social worker from Rajshahi
