2 lakh undocumented Bangladeshis register in Malaysia
The Malaysian government's rehiring programme for illegal foreign workers including the Bangladeshis ends today.
Over two lakh undocumented Bangladeshi migrant workers have registered with the Malaysian Immigration Department for being legalised and employed under this programme, said sources at Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur.
The rehiring programme for the illegal workers, which began on February 15, allows employers to legalise their foreign workers from 15 countries including Bangladesh after completing the registration procedure with the country's Immigration Department.
The Malaysian government's announcement was considered as a blessing for the Bangladeshis, who are working in the Southeast Asian labour receiving country without valid documents.
The Malaysian government might further extend the deadline, Bangladesh High Commissioner Shahidul Islam said.
"It's not possible to say anything by ascertaining that all people will be legalised under this programme. But we believe many of our people will get scopes to work here by obtaining valid work permits when the authorities finalise the assessment of the programme," he told The Daily Star over phone.
Asking about the fates of the undocumented Bangladeshis after the end of the rehiring programme, the envoy said they are hopeful about the legalisation of a good number of the migrants.
"It's really difficult to determine their future here," he added.
Around 400,000 Bangladeshis are working legally in different sectors in Malaysia, but there is no exact number of the undocumented Bangladeshis there, he added.
Currently, Malaysia is not hiring any foreign workers as the government announced suspending recruitment of foreign workers from all countries on February 19, a day after Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur signed a memorandum of understanding on recruiting 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers through G2G Plus mechanism over the next three years.
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