Six countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, are desperate to evict workers.

Since early April, eight countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, have been pressing the government to return to unemployed workers. Senior officials from the Bangladeshi Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Employment Abroad expect five to seven Lakh workers to return from the Middle East. And concerned officials at the Foreign Ministry think the number may exceed a million.

Five expatriate workers from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait told Prothom Alo by phone that the majority of migrant workers work on contract. There is no work now. Illegal people don’t get any jobs. Life has become inhumane, many seek a way back to the country.

The Kuwaiti government has assembled illegal Bangladeshi workers in a temporary detention camp to send them back. Camp residents say their total number is approximately six thousand five hundred. Mr. Majjat ​​is in the detention camp. Raihan Sheikh told Prothom Alo by phone that there are 600 people huddled in a large school for 22 days. Speaking of the food crisis, the police are hitting him. Four people have died in different fields. He said, “I can’t even call the embassy during the day. Save us.

Illegal workers have already been evacuated from prisons and detention camps for fear of infection. In the past two weeks, 3,795 people have returned from various countries in the Middle East. All must be kept in institutional quarantine. On May 8, the Foreign Ministry said some 29,000 people, mostly from the Middle East, would return in the coming weeks.

According to the government’s Office of Training and Employment for Human Resources (BMET), about 80 percent of migrant workers are in eight countries in the Middle East. They send more than half of the expat income. Most of the workers return from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman. These five countries are among the top 10 expatriate income countries in Bangladesh. Many workers in Bahrain, Lebanon and Jordan will also have to return. In Jordan, some 45,000 workers work in the garment sector. Due to the cancellation of the export order, work at the factory has stopped and many do not receive their wages.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says the Middle East’s oil-dependent economy is facing its biggest blow in 40 years. And the International Labor Organization (ILO) says that 5 million people could lose their jobs in Arab countries in the second quarter (April-June).

Three officials from the Ministry of Welfare and Foreign Affairs for expats said that the majority of workers in Bangladesh are untrained. They work more in the construction sector. Work in this sector has stagnated in countries due to cost constraints due to economic pressures. Workers in other sectors have also lost their jobs. Again, workers who became illegal due to various reasons are now unemployed. Thousands of workers have registered to return to Bangladesh at the expense of the government. Bahrain wanted to send workers on 10 planes in two days. Bangladesh agreed to send it step-by-step at the request of the government.

Several people working for immigrant rights have said at first glance that European countries are not expelling illegal workers during this disaster. You are giving various benefits to unemployed legal workers. Therefore, Bangladesh should protest at the international forum without accepting pressure from the Middle East.

Meanwhile, in January-March, more than 1.5 lakh expatriates returned from the Middle East on vacation for fear of the crown. Your chances of going back to work are decreasing. More than a lakh of new workers were unable to go in the past two months. Their names will also appear on the unemployed list. In general, the pillars of the economy will be the risk of expatriate entry.

Great success and illegal

The biggest blow will come from Saudi Arabia, the largest Bangladeshi job market in the world. The Bangladeshi embassy in the country says 22 lakh Bangladeshis are working there. Last year, about 80 percent of all migrant workers went to that country. Some of the officials fear that up to seven Lakh workers may return from this country.

Embassy sources say the Saudi government could outlaw the worker without extending the validity of the ikama or a valid work permit to compel him to return home. Iqama’s renewal fee can be increased multiple times. Other countries may also adopt such strategies.

Md. In Saudi Arabia. Eight people, including Sohag, live in one house. No one has been working for two months. Deposits are over. He said in the first light of the phone: “I have to die without eating for a while.”

The country has been cracking down on illegal workers for two years. The situation worsens in Corona. According to multiple sources in the immigration sector, millions of expats have entered the country illegally with so-called ‘free visas’.

In the case of free visas, brokers conspired to issue a visa to a Saudi citizen by showing him the employer. Ikama must be taken from the same employer within three months of departure. Employers applying for a free visa do not work, nor do they renew ikama or ikama. The worker became illegal. Again, under Saudi law, no one but the employer described on the visa can work. If detected, it has to be invalid.

Tipu Sultan, president of Oikya Parishad, a recruitment agency for private labor exporters, says that many are becoming illegal even as they work for another employer to cover higher immigration costs. There is no free visa. However, people leave. First, he said, they are all responsible for the illegal workers.

Expatriate income is at risk

As a Human Resources Training and Employment Office (BMET), immigration has been declining for the past two years. 1 million workers were in 2016. At least last year the number reached 7,000 rupees. There was aviation until March 25 of this year. A worker and a half lakh have gone to different countries. But even if the global blockade ends, the hiring rate could drop significantly.

Shamim Ahmed Chowdhury, secretary general of Baira, an agency organization that sends workers abroad in the private sector, told Prothom Alo that each Crown-affected country will reduce its migrant workers to save its economy and its workers. It will not renew the contract. It will force the unemployed to return to the country.

Expats’ incomes increased for three years. Expats also sent money to the country during the coronation period. However, compared to April 2019, it has decreased by 11 percent in April.

The government is crying in the woods.

CEO of BMET. Shamsul Alam said that the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are working together to resolve the current crisis. Even then, low-interest training and loans are being arranged for the rehabilitation of returnees.

A responsible official at the Foreign Ministry told Prothom Alo that they had asked staff to give at least six months before the cut. Arab countries are not responding. The government proposed establishing a joint fund with countries to rehabilitate workers for business or any other purpose. No country agreed.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told Prothom Alo that it would be a different matter if a few thousand people returned, but if a few thousand rupees returned, it would be a big problem. So all kinds of attempts. The government will again offer funds for the rehabilitation of workers. Assistance has been requested from the United Nations, the European Union and other international organizations.

Tasnim Siddiqui, president of the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RAMRU), a private research institute in the immigration sector, says it is against international law to send a worker back in a legal disaster or illegal. He said, at first glance, that the government needs to increase diplomatic activity and create worldwide pressure to reach an agreement with other countries that send workers. If necessary, the strategy should be decided by forming multiple teams with former diplomats.