At least one lakh foreigners have no work permit:?Passport dept
The government is planning to prepare a policy to preserve information on foreign nationals, including their entry to and exit from Bangladesh and their stay at hotels and motels here.
The move aims to monitor their activities. The home ministry will hold a meeting on Thursday on the matter. The ministry’s additional secretary, Dr Kamal Uddin Ahmed, will chair the meeting, which will be attended by representatives of the Bangladesh Bank, Board of Investment, Police headquarters, foreign ministry, passport and immigration department, Bangladesh Export Processing Zone and intelligence agencies.
The meeting will also review the security of foreigners in Bangladesh. Action has been aken against some foreigners staying illegally, Ahmed told The Independent.
Sources in the law enforcement agencies said the authorities are closely monitoring some foreign nationals staying in the country illegally.
According to sources in the immigration and passport department, at least one lakh foreigners are working or doing business in Bangladesh without work permit. Most of these illegal workers are from India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Korea, China and Hong Kong. These foreign nationals have arrived in Bangladesh on tourist visa, and are now working in readymade garment, leather, textile factories and multinational companies, sources added.
At least 18,000 foreigners are working legally in different organisations across the country, the sources said.
Sources in the immigration department said the government is planning to install security devices, including fingerprint scanners and some sensitive software at all the 33 immigration points to check cross-border terrorism. Trained staff from of the special branch of police will install the devices. The sources said a total of 10,000 immigrants use the Hazrat Shahjalal (R) International Airport every day. The immigration authorities at the airport are collecting data on the immigrants’ passports, visas and photos.
Courtesy of The Independent
