Jamil Mahmud

Expatriate workers flying to Italy on a special Biman flight will have to pay about Tk 77,000 for a ticket, over twice the amount they used to pay before the pandemic.

Around 25,000 aspiring migrant workers are facing new hassles as Saudi Arabia asked them to resubmit documents for reissuing their visas, expired amid coronavirus pandemic.

Although the government has resumed international flights, many expatriate workers are facing difficulties in returning to Saudi Arabia due to the big gap between the demand for tickets and the frequency of flights.

Many migrant workers are still uncertain about rejoining work in Saudi Arabia anytime soon as several foreign airlines are yet to resume flights to the kingdom.

The Saudi Arabian Airlines will operate 50 to 60 flights between Dhaka and Saudi Arabia this month in a bid to fly more workers waiting to go back to the Gulf country.

Many migrant workers, who got stuck after coming from Saudi Arabia on vacation, are having to ask their employers to get their visas and residence permits renewed.

Despite grim predictions, remittance inflow stayed strong for the fourth straight month as expatriates sent home $2.15 billion last month, giving the country’s economy some relief amid the pandemic.

At least 55,000 Bangladeshi expatriates have been waiting to board Saudi Arabia-bound flights with return their tickets in hand since the Covid-19 pandemic halted their return to the Kingdom.

Migrant workers, who had been stranded at home ever since they came back from Saudi Arabia for holidays, yesterday said they were worried about the renewal of their work permits despite assurance from Bangladesh government.

The authorities have decided to allow more flights to Saudi Arabia for the thousands of people desperately waiting to go to their workplaces in the Gulf country.

A group of 170 Bangladeshis is expected to be repatriated from war-torn Libya in a chartered flight today.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines is waiting for the response from the Saudi Arabia authorities to operate flights in the Gulf country as international flight operations between the two countries are expected to resume soon.

The number of Bangladeshi migrants returning to the country has increased sharply in the last three weeks compared to the previous weeks of the pandemic.

Malaysia’s decision to lift the travel ban on Bangladesh and 22 other countries will reduce the hurdles for many Bangladeshis returning to their workplaces in that country.

About 9,500 migrant workers are expected to return home from Iraq, with about 5,400 of them already repatriated, following job losses in the Arab country amid the pandemic.

The situations of about four lakh Bangladeshi expatriates, mainly migrant workers, in Qatar are set to improve as the Gulf country recently made some major changes to its labour laws for workers’ protection.

The situation of about four lakh Bangladeshi expatriates, mainly migrant workers, in Qatar is set to improve as the Gulf country recently brought some major changes to its labour laws for workers’ protection.

Undocumented Bangladeshi workers in Kuwait are at risk of facing deportation, as authorities in the Gulf country have recently decided to launch drive against illegal foreign workers there.

At least 78,043 Bangladeshi workers returned home from 26 countries since April amid the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, according to statistics of the expatriates’ welfare ministry.

Jahangir Alam got an employment visa in late February and was preparing to fly to Saudi Arabia the following month to work as a cleaner.