Bangladesh cuts labor fees for ‘migrant’ workers

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KUWAIT CITY, Dec 4: The state employment agency of Bangladesh has revised the cost of immigration for migrant workers after nearly six years to make it more worker- friendly, reports Al-Qabas daily. Officials said that the Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Company Limited (BOESL), the sole government recruitment agency has approved the revised fees for various countries at its board meeting recently.

The revised staffing costs cover nine countries — Kuwait, Jordan, Seychelles, Croatia, Mauritius, Bulgaria, Australia, Fiji and Russia. The revised costs are 52,850 taka (160 dinars) and 41,250 taka (125 dinars) respectively for Kuwait, Seychelles, Australia, Fiji and Russia, for the two categories of skilled workers and professionals but the rate remained unchanged for skilled workers who are in Seychelles at 26,800 taka each. Earlier, the recruitment fee was 87,340 taka (260 dinars) and 52,740 taka per worker and the recruitment fee was last adjusted by BOESL in 2016.

The rates have been revised for the respective countries under the categories of skilled workers and professionals. On the other hand, job consultants going to Jordan will pay 30,000 taka from the previous 87,340 taka. However, the cost rose to 41,250 taka from 38,940 taka for skilled workers heading to Mauritius and Croatia. At the time the cost of Bulgaria-bound (skilled) garment workers was reset at 52,850 taka from 52,740 taka. The costs include service fees, welfare fees for salaried workers, pre-exit fees, training fees, insurance and smart card fees.

Travel costs are mostly borne by employers. However, rates remained unchanged for garment workers heading to Jordan and Romania. Domestic workers in Hong Kong and workers going to South Korea under the work permit system also remained unchanged. The agency is exploring new markets to increase employment opportunities for Bangladeshi workers abroad. Recently, it started sending workers to Malaysia without immigration costs.

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