Riyadh almost halts issuing fresh visas for Bangladeshis
Friday, 28 November 2008
Naim-Ul-Karim
Employment for Bangladeshis in Saudi Arabia, the single largest destination for thousands of overseas job seekers, has slowed down since July last as Riyadh has almost halted issuing fresh visas, local recruiting agencies said Thursday.
According to statistics of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), some 20,980 Bangladeshis have found jobs in Saudi Arabia in July-October period of this year against 75,663 in the same period of last 2007 year.
The BMET data also showed that some 1,624 Bangladeshis found jobs in Saudi Arabia during November 1-26 against 23,432 people found jobs in the same period last year.
"Its true that Saudi Arabia has nearly halted issuing visas to recruit new Bangladesh workers to the country," said Golam Mostafa, president of Bangladesh International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA).
The local recruiting agencies said a propaganda against Bangladeshi workers is being carried out by a section of Saudi media, controlled by journalists of two South Asian manpower exporting rivals.
"This section of the media deliberately give exaggerated reports involving Bangladeshi workers there, which has fueled Riyadh's anger and caused a near stoppage of recruitment of Bangladesh workers over last few months," Md Abdul Hye, owner of a leading recruiting agency Greenland, told the FE on Thursday.
There are nearly 1.75 million Bangladeshis living and working in Saudi Arabia.
Mr Hye said most of those Bangladeshis, who are now leaving Dhaka for Saudi Arabia, got visas before August.
BAIRA president, referring to his meeting with Saudi Ambassador Abdullah bin Naser Al-Bosairi, said the situation is expected to improve next year.
"The Honourable ambassador has assured during a recent meeting that Saudi Arabia will gradually soften its position in recruiting more manpower from Bangladesh," he added.
Mr. Mostafa said Saudi Arabia will require over a million workers to support its newly launched infrastructure development projects.
Some 128,540 Bangladeshis found jobs in Saudi Arabia in the past ten months (January to October) this year against 161,488 jobs in the same period last year, according to statistics of the BMET.
Employment for Bangladeshis in Saudi Arabia, the single largest destination for thousands of overseas job seekers, has slowed down since July last as Riyadh has almost halted issuing fresh visas, local recruiting agencies said Thursday.
According to statistics of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), some 20,980 Bangladeshis have found jobs in Saudi Arabia in July-October period of this year against 75,663 in the same period of last 2007 year.
The BMET data also showed that some 1,624 Bangladeshis found jobs in Saudi Arabia during November 1-26 against 23,432 people found jobs in the same period last year.
"Its true that Saudi Arabia has nearly halted issuing visas to recruit new Bangladesh workers to the country," said Golam Mostafa, president of Bangladesh International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA).
The local recruiting agencies said a propaganda against Bangladeshi workers is being carried out by a section of Saudi media, controlled by journalists of two South Asian manpower exporting rivals.
"This section of the media deliberately give exaggerated reports involving Bangladeshi workers there, which has fueled Riyadh's anger and caused a near stoppage of recruitment of Bangladesh workers over last few months," Md Abdul Hye, owner of a leading recruiting agency Greenland, told the FE on Thursday.
There are nearly 1.75 million Bangladeshis living and working in Saudi Arabia.
Mr Hye said most of those Bangladeshis, who are now leaving Dhaka for Saudi Arabia, got visas before August.
BAIRA president, referring to his meeting with Saudi Ambassador Abdullah bin Naser Al-Bosairi, said the situation is expected to improve next year.
"The Honourable ambassador has assured during a recent meeting that Saudi Arabia will gradually soften its position in recruiting more manpower from Bangladesh," he added.
Mr. Mostafa said Saudi Arabia will require over a million workers to support its newly launched infrastructure development projects.
Some 128,540 Bangladeshis found jobs in Saudi Arabia in the past ten months (January to October) this year against 161,488 jobs in the same period last year, according to statistics of the BMET.