September 22, 2025
DHAKA – Countries including the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Oman and Bahrain have either shut or heavily restricted entry for Bangladeshi workers, with no clear timeline for reopening.
Despite repeated assurances and high-level engagements, including during the past 14 months of the interim government, Bangladesh has made little headway in having those markets reopened.
Experts and industry insiders say fraud in the migration process, over-recruitment, commission for visa, and syndicate control have crippled the system.
They have warned that unless urgent measures are taken, Bangladesh may lose its foothold in the global labour market to competitors like the Philippines and Nepal and put steady remittance inflow into uncertainty.
UAE RESTRICTIONS
The UAE, Bangladesh’s second-largest labour market after Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, has remained largely closed since 2013.
Unofficial estimates suggest 1–1.2 million Bangladeshis currently work there.
Although migration picked up after 2021, with 101,000 workers going in 2022 and 98,000 in 2023, the number dropped to 47,000 last year, according to data from the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training.
The UAE quietly curbed visit and work visas for Bangladeshis in July 2024 after some migrants demonstrated in solidarity with the quota reform movement back home.
BM Jamal Hossain, then consul general in Dubai, confirmed that visa applications had been restricted since July 22, 2024.
During the World Governments Summit in Dubai earlier this year, Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus urged UAE ministers to lift the ban, but no progress is visible.
The uncertainty has left aspiring migrants like Ziaul Haq (pseudonym) of Barguna in limbo. “I’ve been waiting for 13 months after submitting my passport for the visa. Because of the restrictions after the protests, my visa is still not processed,” he said.
Adding to the confusion, a website called UAE Visa Online claimed on September 17 that Bangladeshis, along with citizens of eight other countries, would not be allowed to apply for visit or work visas in 2026, citing security concerns, geopolitical issues, and possible COVID-19 spread.
Ambassador Tareq Ahmed at the Bangladesh Embassy in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and Chief Adviser’s Envoy for International Affairs Lutfey Siddiqi did not respond to repeated calls and text messages for comments.
Tareq dismissed the report while talking to local reporters. He said the embassy received no such official notice from the UAE government, according to media reports.
However, an official at Bangladesh’s Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Daily Star, “The fact that no visit or work visas have been issued in the past year proves that the ban is still in place.”
MALAYSIA: ONLY PROMISES
After another crucial destination, Malaysia, had reopened its market in 2021, nearly 4.5 lakh workers migrated between August 2022 and April 2024. However, over 18,000 workers were stranded after missing the departure deadline.
Several visits and meetings, including Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Dhaka trip in October 2024, produced promises but no breakthrough.
In May this year, Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Adviser Asif Nazrul visited Kuala Lumpur. Malaysian officials assured him of prioritising Bangladesh’s issue, but no tangible progress followed.
Later that month, Dhaka hosted the third Joint Working Group meeting with Malaysia, focused on safe migration. However, concrete results are yet to come.
Anisul Islam of Manikganj, one of the 18,000 stranded, said he had paid Tk 5.3 lakh to agencies and brokers to secure a job in Malaysia.
“If the government refunds only Tk 79,900 as the official fee, I will be ruined. We’ve been hearing promises for months, but how long are we supposed to wait?” he said.
SHRINKING MARKET
Over the past decade, Oman, Bahrain, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Egypt, Brunei, and Malaysia have closed their doors to Bangladeshi workers at various times.
In August 2018, a Bangladeshi national in Bahrain murdered an imam, following which the oil-rich country shut its labour market to Bangladeshi workers and also deported a significant number of Bangladeshis.
Oman closed its labour market for Bangladeshi workers in September 2024 due to an oversupply of workers and visa issues.
The Maldives also suspended visas last year citing irregularities.
“Instead of expanding, our labour market is shrinking day by day,” said Shariful Hasan, associate director of BRAC’s Migration and Youth Initiatives Programme.
He blamed fraud, visa trading, and over-recruitment, adding that Bangladesh should have built a comprehensive, digitalised recruitment system.
Shariful cautioned that overdependence on Saudi Arabia, now the dominant employer, could deepen economic risks. Without urgent reforms and breakthroughs, remittance inflows may erode further.
“Unless bold steps are taken, we will keep losing opportunities to others,” he said.
He stressed that stronger diplomacy, transparent recruitment, and action against syndicates are crucial. “Real progress will come only when costs are reduced, medical care ensured, embassies support workers in distress, and returnees get reintegration support,” he said.
Fakhrul Islam, former joint secretary of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA), echoed the concern. “The Middle East is our largest market, yet the UAE, Bahrain, and Oman remain closed. Malaysia was one of our biggest, but even after a year, it is still shut,” he said.
He urged the government to use Chief Adviser Yunus’s global stature more actively in diplomatic efforts. “If he engages directly, there is a chance to reopen some of these markets,” Fakhrul said.