Visa Renewal for Returnees: Saudi sponsors now out to milk them
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.
They are paying additional money to the employers in many cases, the workers alleged.
Visas and residence permits of many migrant workers expired as international air travel remained suspended during the pandemic.
About a dozen migrant workers waiting in a queue to buy tickets from Saudi Arabian Airlines in the capital's Karwan Bazar told these to The Daily Star yesterday.
The Kingdom in July announced an automatic three-month extension of visas and residence permits for workers, according to media reports.
On September 23, Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said migrants could get their visas renewed at the Saudi embassy in Dhaka from September 27 and that their work permits (iqama) would remain valid until October 17.
The validity may be extended further if needed, he said.
Abdur Rahman, a migrant worker from Dhaka's Keraniganj, yesterday said he contacted his sponsor in Riyadh after his visa expired on September 13.
He later paid 1,000 Saudi riyal to the sponsor via an acquaintance to get his visa renewed for a month.
"Normally, it should take about 200 Saudi riyal," said Rahman, who was in the queue in Karwan Bazar.
Rahman came home in January and his visa was valid until April 13. He got the automatic extensions a couple of times.
He also said his sponsor recently renewed his residence permit for a year.
Also waiting in the queue was Mahmudul Hasan, who came to the capital from Madaripur. He reached Bangladesh in January and was supposed to return to Jeddah in March.
"Now my employer is saying I must return within this month," Mahmudul said, adding that his re-entry visa will expire on November 30.
Anwar Hossain, from Manikganj, said he came to the country on January 7 and was supposed to return to his workplace in Tabuk on July 9.
Although the government said their visa and iqama would be extended automatically, it had not happened, he said.
"Validity of my iqama was not extended. I had to contact my sponsor personally and had to pay Tk 45,000 [2,000 Saudi riyal] for the extension," he added.
Liaqat Hossainj, of Keraniganj, who came to the country on February 3, said, "I had to pay Tk 67,000 [3,000 Saudi riyal] for extending my iqama until October 18 after it expired on September 30."
Asked, Borhan Uddin, director general (West Asia) of the foreign ministry, yesterday said very few migrant workers were facing difficulties regarding their return to Saudi Arabia.
This is happening because their sponsors do not want them to return, he said.
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