Lotteries to shortlist Malaysia-bound workers in Dhaka, Barisal divs today

Lotteries to shortlist workers aspiring to migrate to Malaysia from Dhaka and Barisal divisions will be held at the respective deputy commissioners’ offices today, said Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training officials on Tuesday.
They said another round of lotteries for final selection of the workers would be held

Read more

Migration Cost for KL: Tk 40,000 a worker

Media told after discussion with Malaysian minister
Bangladeshi workers will have to spend a maximum of Tk 40, 000 each for jobs in Malaysia that resumes recruitment under state arrangements in a few months, ending a nearly four-year ban.
“This is an indicative cost that would not be more than Tk 30, 000 to 40,000,” expatriates welfare minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said

Read more

400 workers cheated by manpower agent

Job Regularisation in Malaysia
400 workers cheated by manpower agent
Around 400 Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia were allegedly defrauded by an employment agent in the job regularisation process.
The victims said as per an agreement, they paid Malaysian Ringgit (RM) 3,000 (Tk 90,000) each to an agent earlier this year and were supposed to pay RM 500 more after securing work permits,

Read more

Libya sends back 200 workers

Says visas fake; manpower office rejects it
 The Libyan authorities have deported around 200 Bangladeshi job seekers in the last few days, saying their work visas were fake, but the manpower bureau in Dhaka has rejected the allegation.
The deportation starting from May 22 to 26 prompted the authorities in Dhaka not to allow the job seekers to go to Libya for

Read more

Malaysian cops prey on migrant workers

Rights activist tells anti-graft body in KL about their harassment for bribe
Migrant workers in Malaysia are regularly being harassed by law enforcers and forced to pay bribes, rights activist Irene Fernandez told Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Friday.
She also cited six instances of corruption involving guest workers, reported The Malaysian Insider.
On Friday, the MACC summoned Fernandez after she had come under fire for criticising

Read more

Big promise, small pay

Employers in UAE pay Bangladeshi workers much less than amount mentioned in job contracts
Before leaving for the United Arab Emirates in early 2008, Shakil Hossain signed a job contract that offered him a monthly wage of 1,200 dirham (1 dirham equivalent to
Tk 22). It was quite lucrative for the plumber although he had to spend Tk 2.5 lakh for the job in Dubai that he believed would change his

Read more

Fraud alert from Libya

Govt urged to ensure proper screening as manpower cheats get active  
Bangladesh embassy in Libya has asked for stringent government measures so that illegal manpower syndicates cannot send jobseekers to that country.
The embassy sought such steps as it learnt that illegal syndicates have become active to send Bangladeshi workers to Egypt and Sudan with tourist visas, and then push them into Libya, official

Read more

Jordan jobs made tough

Recruitment restriction imposed after reports of labour strike, sexual abuse
Only after one year of lifting the ban, Jordan has tightened recruitment of Bangladeshi workers following a number of reports of sexual abuse of female workers and labour strike.
“Jordan’s labour ministry is following strict rules regarding fresh recruitment of Bangladeshi workers. But we are trying hard to melt the ice,” Lubna Yasmine, first secretary (labour) of

Read more

2.68 lakh workers set to be regular

Bangladeshis in Malaysia
2.68 lakh workers set to be regular
Malaysian home minister says his country needs all those who get registered under amnesty scheme. 
All the 2.68 lakh irregular Bangladeshi workers registered under Malaysia’s amnesty programme will be regularised from October 10 and given jobs, officials at the Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur said yesterday

Read more

Fate of many workers in Malaysia uncertain

The fate of many illegal Bangladeshi workers who cannot register their names under any companies in Malaysia is uncertain as a rise in employment crisis may force them to return home anytime.
On June 22, the Malaysian government announced amnesty for the undocumented workers, paving a way for them to get regularised or go back home without facing any penalty. The registration began on

Read more

Saudi Arabia may recruit more Bangladeshis

Saudi Arabia will consider taking more workers in farm and other sectors from Bangladesh, the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud Al-Faisal, told the Bangladesh foreign minister, Dipu Moni, in Jeddah on Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia will also ease restrictions on allowing changes in iqama (work permit) of Bangladeshi workers, he said

Read more

5 lakh expat Bangladeshi workers to be fingerprinted

Malaysia
5 lakh expat Bangladeshi workers to be fingerprinted 
Bangladesh and Malaysia will work together to fingerprint for the first time the estimated 500,000 Bangladeshis working legally and illegally here, said Hishammuddin Hussein, home minister of Malaysia, yesterday.
The government had struck a separate agreement with Bangladesh’s High Commission to facilitate the registration of their workers, beginning immediately, he

Read more

Mauritius comes to aid of victims

11 Expats Dead in Road Crash
Mauritius comes to aid of victims
The Mauritius government has displayed a rare example of care to the families of the 11 Bangladeshi workers killed in a road accident in the island nation on January 12 this year.
On March 3, Mauritian labour minister Shakeel Ahmed travelled to Bangladesh to hand over $7,585 (Tk 557,876 approximately) to each of the deceased’s

Read more

Pot smoking was a factor

Trapped in Container
Pot smoking was a factor
The two Bangladeshis, who were discovered in a cargo container shipped from Chittagong to Singapore, had smoked marijuana in the container before being locked in.
“For some time, we forgot that we were in a container,” said port worker Din Islam, who was lucky to survive after being trapped in the container for nine days without food or water, but his

Read more

Home beckons, holds no hope

On Tunisia-Libya Border
Home beckons, holds no hope
Bangladeshi fortune-seekers tell of manpower touts, survival struggle at border camp
“Human trafficking!” exclaimed an IOM official shocked to his very core, “These are Bangladeshi migrant workers in Libya fleeing Gaddafi’s atrocity. How can they be victims of human trafficking?”
The official’s seemingly reasonable reaction was triggered by the tales told to me by Bangladeshi youths at the crowded refugee camp of Choucha near Libya-Tunisia border

Read more

FM faces agitating stranded Bangladeshis

Foreign minister Dipu Moni faced agitating Bangladesh nationals stranded at border points between Libya and Egypt for delay in relocating them from politically volatile and strife-torn Libya on Sunday, according to diplomatic sources.
They criticized the government for its lukewarm attitude in repatriating people stranded in

Read more

His home return plan shattered

Cement plant engineer Golam Rabbani wanted to return home this February to finally settle down in the country and look after his three children. But his life now seems to be in grave danger as he has been taken hostage by “Libyan armed forces” in troubled Libya.
His family members said yesterday a group of people in Libyan army uniform took the

Read more