Higher total recruitment cost eats up much of the benefit outbound workers reap from their sweated labour and leave many of them indebted, sector experts say and show probable new model of secure migration.
The prevailing middleman-infested arrangements force them to take extra workloads and other pressures to recoup such costs, migration experts and sector- insiders say.
If recruitment and other invisible costs such as social cost of migration are all together taken into consideration, workers have to pay higher than they earn with their sweat in foreign lands in many cases.
The government should calculate the actual benefits of workers before sending them abroad for the sake of proper development of this sector of earning vitally needed foreign exchange, they suggest.
Dr C R Abrar, executive director of Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU), says because of high migration cost, it takes too long for the workers to receive benefits from the migration process.
"Several months they cannot reap any outcome as they need to recover the costs," he adds. And if they had borrowed money, they would face another burden.
"Workers who became unsuccessful due to malpractices of dishonest recruiting agencies lost everything," Mr Abrar also says.
However, Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Programme (OKUP), a grassroots migrants' organisation, reports that nearly 25 to 30 per cent of the total workers return home being cheated every year.
Workers cheated by manpower recruiters say they face debt burden. Majority of workers arrange migration cost through borrowing or land mortgage, according to the OKUP report.
Bangladesh is still among a few countries in the world which have the highest migration cost.
These costs for male migrants can potentially shoot up to Tk 700,000 and for female migrants to Tk 95,000 each.
By contrast, monthly salary expectations of Bangladeshi migrants range from Tk 25,000 to Tk 100,000, and they eventually end up earning somewhere between Tk 15,000 and Tk 30,000.
The findings came out from a recent study on the recruitment practices in Bangladesh that was conducted by the UN migration agency-the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
It highlighted that lack of appropriate knowledge, influence of middlemen coupled with inability to pursue skilled jobs in countries of destination are often forcing migrants to accept low wages and poor working environment.
On the other hand, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS)-conducted Cost of Migration Survey-2020 refers that Bangladeshi workers need nearly 18 months to recover the cost they spend for going abroad with jobs.
Men need more than 19 months and women need, on average, six months.
Akbar Hossain spent over Tk 600,000 to go to Saudi Arabia in 2016. He earned Tk 27,000 a month.
Akbar worked hard to earn more money as he took loans to meet migration cost.
Moreover, he had an extended family, so there was no scope to take relief for a while, he said.
"I used to work 12 to 14 hours a day. Sometimes I wished I would get back home."
The 37-year-old returned home in 2018 to enjoy leave with family. But he could not go back to that country as he was diagnosed with high blood pressure and back pain.
"I could not repay my loans," says Akbar. "And the moneylender storms my home occasionally and press for repayment."
Bangladesh's overseas employment sector is vastly dependent on multi-layered intermediaries. The involvement of middlemen starts from root level, and they charge money in all stages, including issuance of passport, medical and visa.
OKUP's chairman, Shakirul Islam, says at least three middlemen are engaged in whole migration process of a worker.
"Even we found five middlemen engagement in different stages. Workers were forced to pay every middleman."
Mostikul Salehin came to know about job in Brunei from his neighbour Shohag. As he showed interest to go to that country, Shohag introduced him to Jihad, another middleman. Then Jihad promised him a good construction job in the Southeast Asian country, and charged Tk 400,000.
But he received visa a few hours before flying-and there was no job-contract paper.
"I had no alternative but to go to Brunei as Jihad handed over my all necessary documents to another middleman," he bemoans the destiny he was handed down.
He could stay only five months in that country. He failed to find any suitable job over there.
Moreover, he faced limitless sufferings-even he faced scarcity of food.
Mostikul Salehin says he arranged the total amount of money by borrowing from others. But he has yet to repay the loans.
Bangladesh sends 600,000 to 700,000 workers abroad each year, and receives about US$20 billion.
Remittance inflow to Bangladesh accounted for 6.6 per cent of its GDP in 2020, making it the eighth-largest remittance earner in the year, says a report by the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD).
Sector-insiders say a large amount of money is being laundered in the guise of migration cost.
Visa trading is the main reason behind it, as recruiters purchase visa from the key destination countries and sell those at high price at workers' end.
Officials and sector-insiders say the country is losing a significant amount of money because of visa business in the name of labour migration.
Bangladeshi migrant workers sent about US$1.45 billion more in remittance through formal channel during the Covid-19 pandemic period due to decline in visa trading, an RMMRU study disclosed in January 2021.
It said demand for hundi money to purchase visa declined in the Covid-19 pandemic as recruitment of workers by the host countries remained stopped.
On the other hand, Bangladesh lost a significant amount of money because of visa trading to Brunei in 2019.
According to officials at the Bangladesh High Commission in Bandar Seri Begawan, about 22,000 visas were issued in six months of 2019. The total cost of those visas stood at Bruneian dollar 110 million or US$ 80.29 million.
But Bangladesh received $ 21.67 million in remittance from Brunei during the July-December period of 2019, statistics available on the Bangladesh Bank website showed.
A section of dishonest manpower agents charged Bruneian dollar 5,000 to bring each Bangladeshi worker to the country without confirmation of work. So, many of them got stranded there, and many others could find low-paid jobs, official said.
The government moved to register intermediaries in March last as part of a move to control extra migration cost.
But it failed to make headway as most recruiting agencies were reluctant to submit data of their respective manpower agents.
According to officials of the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET), only 129 out of 1400 authorised recruitment agencies had provided lists of their agents or intermediaries to the bureau until the June-30 deadline in the current year.
The government had fixed migration cost for 15 vital job markets in 2017. The highest one is Tk 262,270 for Singapore, and the lowest Tk 97,780 for Bahrain-bound workers.
But recruiters also do not follow the official rates.
Average recruitment cost for migrants was Tk 417,000 between 2015 and 2018, BBS survey found. The costs comprise airfare, passport, medical, visa, and recruitment agency's service charge.
When contacted, Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment secretary Ahmed Munirus Saleheen said they were working how to ensure rational migration cost.
Initiative has been taken to send workers from government database, he mentioned, with regard to the just-done recruitment deal with Malaysia.
"If recruiters select workers from the database, middlemen interference would come down, that would help to cut migration cost," he hopes.
Migrant rights activists recommend employer-paid model, strengthening monitoring system, ensuring punishment for dishonest manpower recruiters and middlemen.
OKUP chief Shakirul Islam suggests the employer-paid model where maximum expenses would be borne by employers.
If it is maintained, migration cost would be affordable for workers.
"The government should ensure such system through bilateral agreement with different countries," he says.
He also emphasises the need for awareness among people about malpractice by recruiters.
Ali Haider Chowdhury, former secretary-general of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA), however, refutes the issues of high migration cost and says currently a worker need not spend a large amount of money.
There were available demands especially from Saudi Arabia where more than 70- per cent Bangladeshi workers were going for jobs, he mentioned.
"A worker spends highest Tk 200,000 to go to the Arab country," he says.
Extra cost is created if there were any hidden costs, the ex BAIRA leader said.
He also hints that there were unethical practices in the process of services, including immigration clearance, police verification, passport, and medical checkup.
Airfare also remains unstable sometimes, he added.
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