Undocumented Bangladeshis in KSA: 5,600 seek repatriation

Around 5,600 undocumented Bangladeshi migrant workers in Saudi Arabia have applied for their repatriation under a special exit programme.

In December last year, the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) launched the programme offering illegal migrants a safe return to their home countries.

After the programme was launched, some 3,599 Bangladeshis applied via Bangladesh Embassy in Riyadh while around 2,000 more applied via Bangladesh Consulate General in Jeddah, said Bangladeshi officials in KSA.

All the applications were submitted to labour offices concerned in the KSA for further processing, officials said.

Following a directive by the KSA, Bangladesh mission there started receiving applications from eligible migrants on December 22.

Migrants who work in different companies without residence permit and have been declared absconding are eligible for the opportunity, read a notice of the Bangladesh mission in Jeddah.

Besides, those who had earlier received an exit permit from their sponsors but did not leave the Gulf country on time will also have the opportunity to return home under the programme, it added.

The special exit programme can be availed by any foreign workers in the KSA.

Under this programme, migrants will have to return home on their own within 15 days of obtaining the exit visa, read another notice issued by the Bangladesh mission.

As per the initiative, officials at Bangladesh embassy and consulate general would submit the documents of the applicants to Saudi labour offices.

The KSA authorities will then notify those who would be accepted for repatriation, said an official at the Bangladesh mission's labour welfare wing.

Due to the nature of the procedure, the Bangladesh mission will have no scope to know how many applications were accepted unless the workers themselves inform the mission offices, he said, seeking anonymity.

He also said that the opportunity was limited to those who work at various companies in the Gulf country.

Saudi Arabia is home to around 2 million Bangladeshi nationals, according to Bangladesh mission.

Mohammad Ashaduzzaman, a counsellor at Riyadh labour welfare wing, said the Saudi government did not mention any deadline for the programme.

So, the mission will continue receiving applications from eligible workers until further notice, he said.

"We will try to include every [eligible] worker in the initiative," he recently told this correspondent over phone.

Ashaduzzaman said a vast region of the KSA falls under the jurisdiction of the Bangladesh embassy office at Riyadh and that is why they were setting up makeshift camps in the Bangladeshi migrants-inhabited areas to reach out to them.   

The effort has been taken against the backdrop of frequent detention and deportation of undocumented Bangladeshi migrant workers by Saudi Arabia.

In 2019, some 25,789 Bangladeshi migrant workers were deported by the Gulf country, according to Brac Migration Programme.

Many of them did not have the residence permit, locally known as "iqama".

When a migrant worker fails to obtain the "iqama", he or she is declared illegal and faces legal action, said an official at the expatriates' welfare ministry in Bangladesh.

It is the responsibility of Saudi employers to arrange the "iqama" for foreign workers and renew it every year, he said, seeking anonymity.

However, in 5 to 10 percent of the cases, employers refuse to pay the money for their employees' "iqama", he said, adding that in such circumstances it falls upon the Saudi authorities to hold the employer accountable.

Besides, there are some migrant workers whose "iqama" expired months ago, but they somehow continued working, he said.

There will be no bar on their re-entry to the Gulf country after their return to Bangladesh, he added.

Meanwhile, many Bangladeshi migrant workers have expressed their willingness to avail the opportunity after the mission issued notices on its Facebook page.