Institutional Assessment of Migration Systems in Bangladesh

       Initial findings meant to inform future areas for Bank support on policy
                               reforms/capacity building




Introduction

International labor migration is becoming an increasingly important employment strategy for developing
countries. Labor surpluses and youth bulges paired with insufficient domestic job creation mean that for
many countries, access to foreign labor markets is the only immediate answer to avoiding a significant
increase in unemployment. Fortunately, labor shortages in many traditional receiving countries are likely
to prompt increased openness of these markets for workers from developing countries. As recent events
have made clear, however, policy and institutions have not kept pace with this changing reality. While
increasing mobility creates huge potential increases in global welfare, accessing these gains requires
careful management and facilitation of labor flows to avoid low-level (dis-) equilibria or, put differently,
to maximize the potential gains of migration for the sending country, migrants, and receiving country
(Holzmann and Pouget 2010). Sending countries will need to design labor-sending systems that balance
increased mobility with protection throughout the entire migration process, while ensuring that supply
and demand for specific skills are matched.

Since the 1980s, Bangladesh has been an increasingly important source country in international flows of
contract labor migration. While the primary destinations for Bangladeshi migrants have historically been
the Arab Gulf states, particularly members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), international labor
migration from Bangladesh began to expand in the 1990s beyond the GCC states, however, to include a
wider range of countries including Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mauritius, Singapore, and South Korea. The
annual flow of Bangladeshis in search of employment overseas increased fourfold – from around 248,000
in 1999-2000 to more than 980,000 in 2007-2008.

As labor migration becomes increasingly important to the economy of Bangladesh, so too do the
institutions managing migration. These include institutions governing the processes by which workers are
recruited and employed abroad, the protections they receive while abroad, and support they receive upon
their return home. These institutions are not only crucial to the well-being of workers; strong institutions
are essential to accessing the economic gains of migration. A close look at Bangladesh’s migration system
will provide the Government of Bangladesh with the necessary tools to improve existing corridors and
increase access to labor markets that are just beginning to open up to Bangladeshi workers.

Fully functioning labor sending systems include four key pillars: (1) the Framework for Access, legal
frameworks and international agreements allowing for the movement of labor between countries; (2)

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Facilitating Access, tools for labor intermediation to help workers through the difficult process of
identifying and obtaining jobs overseas; (3) Fortifying Access, protection mechanisms and support services
that mitigate risks of migration for workers; and (4) Furthering Access, which creates institutions to expand
and diversify foreign market access via upskilling and moving up the labor value chain. Underlying these
pillars are foundational themes of administrative capacity/efficiency and cross-border alignment of
institutions to ensure that supply is meeting demand.




This paper applies this structure to an assessment of the existing labor sending system in Bangladesh.
Section I provides a quick overview of existing migrant flows from Bangladesh, key push and pull factors,
and the migration of women in particular. Section II provides background on the Framework for Access,
including existing Bangladeshi laws addressing migration including bilateral agreements and domestic
policies and key government institutions in charge of setting migration policy and regulating migration.
Section III explores the existing processes for Facilitating Access, focusing in particular on the private
recruitment process. Section IV looks at current efforts on the part of GoB for Fortifying Access through
protecting and improving migrant welfare, and Section V explores Furthering Access via training
mechanisms for overseas employment. Finally Section VI offers recommendations for addressing gaps in
the institutional structure moving forward.




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I. Context

Numbers

In 2016 in the Seventh Five Year Plan, GoB estimated that there are almost 9 million Bangladeshi migrant
workers in 160 countries. The share of skilled and semi-skilled migrant workers increased from 28.42% in
2010 to 53.79% in 2014. Moreover, the share of migrant workers in lagging regions also increased from
13.43% in 2010 to 20.53% in 2014. The share of female migrant workers has increased from 7.09% in 2010
to 17.86% in 2014

According to BMET, there are currently Bangladeshi migrants in 160 countries; however, 92% of these
migrants exist in 9 key receiving countries with very small flows to the remaining countries. Short-term
contract labor migration is the most common form of migration from Bangladesh. Saudi Arabia, UAE,
Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Iraq, Libya, Bahrain, Iran, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Brunei
are some of the major countries of destination. Saudi Arabia is largest recipient and accounts for nearly
one half of Bangladeshi migrants, with UAE coming in second.

The importance of accessing overseas job opportunities for Bangladeshi workers is high and growing.
Despite impressive GDP per capita growth in recent years, jobs remain a critical concern in the country:
the labor force is growing by 3.1 percent per annum—which is 1.3 times the South Asian average and 1.7
times the global average. This implies that 21 million people are projected to enter the working age
population and 2.1 million are projected to enter the labor market per year over the next decade).1 These
will mainly be youth coming of working age, which is of particular concern as the 2013 Labor Force Survey
revealed that unemployment is much higher among those 15-29 years old compared to other age groups.
As such, access to employment via international labor markets will only increase in importance in the
coming years.

The coming years are likely to see a rapid expansion of migration from Bangladesh as labor markets
continue to open to Bangladeshi workers. In August 2014, Malaysia announced it resume would hire
Bangladeshi workers in all sectors of the country, which had for a period of time been restricted to the
forest sector, in addition to legalizing the stay and work of 267,800 unauthorized Bangladeshi workers. In
October 2014, United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced that it would open discussions with Bangladesh for
recruiting Bangladeshi workers which ceased in 2012, and towards this end posted a labor attaché at its
embassy in Dhaka. In December 2014, Kuwait, which was until a 206 ban was one of the largest markets
for Bangladeshi migrant workers, announced that it would resume hiring workers from Bangladesh.2
In February 2015, Saudi Arabia announced that it was lifting a seven-year ban implemented in 2008 on
the recruitment of Bangladeshi workers and to that end worked closely with GoB to prepare for resuming
recruitment in May 2015. However, the focus of this reopening was almost exclusively on hiring female
domestic workers. At the time of writing, the Saudi recruitment guidelines stated that the ratio of male



1
    CPF for Bangladesh 2016
2
    Interview with BMET

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to female Bangladeshi workers from each recruitment agency could not exceed 1:1 until the recruiter had
provided 200 female workers (which has proven for most to be a difficult feat).
However, recent declines in oil prices as well as efforts to incentivize hiring more national over foreign
workers (so called Saudization/Emiratization agendas) threaten to undermine employment opportunities
in the GCC. These forces, combined with low remuneration and reported abuse, create a powerful
argument for policy intervention in two key areas: finding mechanisms for improving the processes that
can increase remuneration and reduce abuse; while also expanding access to current receiving markets
and diversifying to other destination markets which are also experiencing labor shortages. Further, while
Bangladeshi workers have certain natural advantages in foreign labor markets (particularly in the GCC),
they will face competition from other major labor-source countries which are also looking outwards and
advantage of labor demand in overseas markets.

The high concentration of Bangladeshi workers in a few overseas labor markets, as well as the
concentration at the lower end of the skill distribution, make out migration from Bangladesh more
vulnerable to changes in either market conditions abroad or diplomatic relations. The reopening of several
corridors as described above provides a unique opportunity for diversifying access to foreign labor
markets. Some new markets are also beginning to express interest in hiring Bangladeshi workers. For
example, Russia is looking to hire workers in the garment industry. A delegation from BMET went to
Moscow in spring 2016 and intended to begin sending workers by July.

Factors in Migrant Flows

The largest factor in the decision to migrate is the desire to improve economic well-being. In a 2013 survey
by the Asia Foundation of Bangladeshi aspiring migrants, 84% respondents focused on economic factors,
including the wish to attain financial solvency (44%), increase their income and savings (14%), escape poor
economic conditions (9%), escape unemployment at home (15%), and related factors (5%). 12% stated
that they simply sought better economic opportunities than the ones they currently had in Bangladesh.
Non-economic factors were less prevalent, but included adverse conditions at home (3%), favorable
conditions or family abroad (1%), or inducement by family members and friends (1%).

The same survey asked aspiring migrants about their current occupation. 31% reported that they were
currently unemployed, while 22% were engaged in some form of business enterprise, 16% worked in
agriculture, and 13% were unskilled laborers. Bangladeshi migrants tend to come from the lower end of
the skill distribution – For example, in the Saudi case, 75% of the Bangladeshi migrant workers employed
were less-skilled; 4% were semi-skilled, and 21% were skilled. As such they generally seek jobs abroad in
industries such as construction, domestic work, gardening, etc.

It is important to note that while higher incomes were the key factor in the decision to migrate, in many
cases migrants lack an accurate estimate of their potential earnings in the host country. For example in
Saudi Arabia, although 57.2% of the aspiring Bangladeshi migrants expected to make salaries ranging from
$244 to $488 per month, in reality, 62.7% of the workers actually earned a salary ranging from $61 to
$244. Only 14.6% of migrants had expected their salary in Saudi Arabia to be that low. This indicates a


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large gap between salary expectation and actual salary earned for Bangladeshi migrants, which would
distort their decision making process and speaks to a need for increased access to information on salaries.

Female Migration

In recent years, the portion of female workers in terms of total migrant flow from Bangladesh has
increased at an increasing rate. In 2002, according to Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training
(BMET) records, women workers constituted 0.54% of the total number of Bangladeshi workers who
migrated overseas in that year. This share increase to 6.14% in 2012 and 13% in 2013. In the Saudi context
in particular, this trend is likely to continue as Indonesia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines have placed
bans on their female citizens migrating to Saudi Arabia for employment. Under the Seventh Five Year Plan,
GoB has set a goal to increase the share of female migrant workers from 17.86% in 2014 to 30% in 2020.

Female migration has a complicated institutional history in Bangladesh. From 1981 to 1998, GoB
repeatedly banned or restricted the outflow of less-skilled women (factoring into migrant women workers
making up just 1% of the total flow of registered migrants up through 2003). In 2003, GoB eased the
restrictions on the migration of unskilled and semi-skilled women over 35. However, those under 35 are
still restricted from migrating on their own. Women must also be at least 25 years of age to qualify as
overseas migrant workers.

These bans and restrictions have likely led to underreporting of female migration from Bangladesh. The
International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations International Research and
Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) (2000) and Siddiqui (2001) estimated that
the number of female migrants might be 10 to 50 times more than the official figures.

Only 40% of migrant women workers are estimated to migrate through recruitment agencies, while the
remaining 60% head abroad with the help of relatives and friends who reside in destination countries.
Women who migrated through the assistance of an overseas relative report feeling more security in their
migration process and were also better informed about life and work abroad.

Women face far greater danger of physical and sexual violence in the host country, which may necessitate
new or expanded institutions for their protection. Domestic workers, in particular, are at risk of physical,
sexual, and emotional abuses, including rape, confinement, underpayment or non-payment of wages, as
well as a range of other abuses, since their living and working conditions are entirely dependent on the
personal relationship between the worker and the employer. In one study of 150 Bangladeshi returning
migrant women, 70 (47%) had their passport taken from them and withheld while abroad (Siddiqui,
2001).The kafala (sponsorship) in the GCC also makes it more difficult to exit abusive situations as workers
are tied to their employer and cannot remain in the country if they leave their employer (Thimothy &
Sasikumar, 2012).

For women preparing to go abroad, an ILO 2014 survey noted that securing childcare arrangements at
home is a major concern. In most cases, the migrant women’s mothers took the children into their homes



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to provide care. However, this may become more complicated as the scale of female migration increases
and may require new solutions.

The reopening of the Saudi corridor is at present focused almost exclusively on female migration. Saudi
employers need 30,000 domestic workers by Ramadan; however, at the time BMET had only been able
to access data for 3,000 female workers. Recruiters attributed the low response rate to the unfavorable
terms offered by Saudi employers – 800 riyals plus 200 riyals per weekend worked, notably less than is
paid in other GCC countries. By spring 2016 as a result of this initiative, recruiters reported that between
48000-50000 female workers had gone abroad. However, news agencies from Saudi stated that large
portions of these flows quickly returned to Bangladesh.

Recruiters also note that in addition to all of the unique issues and concerns associated with female
migration, it is also significantly less profitable for them than male migration. This is due primarily to the
lower wages, and as such associated recruitment fees, offered for female workers. Recruiters also claim
that females have a higher rate of return, the cost of which is theoretically born by the recruiter and
therefore drives down their profits. In the current system, recruiters are responsible for paying the cost
of migrant return. This applies not only to return at the end of a contract, but also to return of workers
who wish to break contract, as in the case of abuse or mistreatment. This puts the recruiters in a position
where they can refuse to cover the cost of return for a worker whose claims of abuse they believe to be
false. As a result, recruiters must deposit a larger amount to recruit female workers as opposed to male
(30 lakh BDT versus 15 lakh BDT). This is to be able to better provide for their return in case of adverse
scenarios. This deposit is forfeited into the welfare fund if the recruiter refuses to pay for the female
worker’s return home.




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II. Framework for Access

The Framework for Access includes all documents and agreements that provide the legal structure
governing the movement of workers between two countries. These frameworks govern terms of
admission into the country, access to the labor market, access to safety nets, and rights and protections
throughout the migrant’s stay in the host country. It also includes the primary government institutions
responsible for managing migration on the side of the sending country.

Laws and Policies
The first law to regulate migration and recruitment in Bangladesh was the Emigration Act of 1922, which
was replaced by the Emigration Ordinance of 1982. The key standing laws on migration within Bangladesh
today are: the Recruiting Agents Code of Conduct and License Rules of 2002, the Overseas Employment
Policy of 2006, the Sixth Fifth Year Plan of 2011, and the Overseas Employment and Migrants’ Act of 2013.

Bilateral Agreements
Labor agreements are the primary vehicle through which legal frameworks governing movement of
workers are established. While multilateral labor agreements do exist (such as those found in ECOWAS,
MERCOSUR, and recently ASEAN to a limited extent),3 the overwhelming majority are bilateral; as of 2004,
OECD4 countries had negotiated more than 170 bilateral labor agreements (BLAs) (OECD 2004). BLAs may
be formal treaties, or more commonly, less formal memorandum of understanding (MOUs). For example,
rather than creating a legal relationship between parties, BLAs in the Pacific document negotiated
agreements between Pacific governments and Australia or New Zealand on policy, principles, roles, and
relationships necessary for managing labor migration and achieving agreement on practical matters for
managing labor migration (Luthria and Malaulau 2013). MOUs are not legally binding, and as such their
effectiveness depends highly on how they are implemented and enforced in practice. Sending countries
can do little on their end if receiving countries do not want to enter into or implement an MOU. As such,
they involve greater uncertainty for sending countries but also offer greater structure and legitimacy to
labor flows.

Successive Bangladesh governments have sent high-level delegations to various labor-receiving states to
negotiate such agreements. However, there has been a general reluctance among labor-receiving
countries to sign BLAs or MOUs with Bangladesh that are legally binding. Bangladesh has existing MOUs
with Malaysia (2003/2006/2016), UAE (2007), South Korea (2007), Republic of Korea (2007), Qatar
(1988/2008), Kuwait (2000/2008), Oman (2008), Libya (2008), and the Maldives (2011). It also has two
bilateral labor agreements: Kuwait (2000/2008) and South Korea (2007).

Because the vast majority of its agreements with labor-receiving countries are not legally binding, the
Bangladesh government has developed a set of minimum standards for its overseas workers. These
include wage scales, working and living conditions, gratuity, medical facility, and compensation. For


3
  ECOWAS = Economic Community of West African States ; MERCOSUR = Mercado Común del Sur; and ASEAN =
Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
4
  Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

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instance, Bangladeshis going to the United Arab Emirates must receive a monthly salary of AED 600 (USD
163) if food is included; otherwise the minimum is AED 750 (USD 240). When an understanding is reached
with any country for sending labor, the Bangladesh government then hands over the set of standards with
the implicit understanding that the receiving country will honor it. However, this does not place the
country concerned under any legal obligation.

The current MOUs were negotiated in the context of large power differentials between Bangladesh and
the receiving country. This can be seen both in the case of the recent reopening of the Saudi corridor and
the G2G with Malaysia. In the Saudi case, the minimum wage that was finally agreed upon in the MOU of
800 riyals was well below the Bangladeshi term of 1200 riyals, the result being a shortage of workers
based on weak recruitment on the Bangladeshi side and pressure on the Saudi side for increased supply
of workers. In the Malaysia context, the power differential manifested in the slow processing time on
Malaysia’s part of passports and visas. Passports, which are supposed to take 24 hours to process, are
being returned by the Malaysia embassy in 20 days, and visas have taken in some cases up to a year and
a half to process.5 However, a new agreement has been reached with Malaysia which will allow for larger
numbers to go through this channel. It will also be administerd through newly-developed web-based
mechanisms, which should streamline many of the procedures which caused delays in the first G2G.

Overseas Employment Policy (2006)
The Overseas Employment Policy of 2006 was developed to enable GoB to extend assistance to all
Bangladeshi citizens in the process of choosing standard employment and protect migrant welfare. The
intention of this policy was to work on reducing irregular flows and increasing the scope of regular
migration. It focuses on protecting rights and safety for workers while abroad as well as the social
protection of families who remained behind. It also strengthened focus on preventing misconduct in the
recruitment process, and aimed to provide allocation of necessary resources to strengthen the existing
institutional infrastructure and personnel for the implementation of the policy.

The capacity building for implementation of the OEP focused on informing and training aspirant migrant
workers to compete in global markets, providing support and advocacy for migrants while abroad, and
negotiating fair contracts and bilateral agreements. However, while the policy was in place for many years,
there was never any comprehensive action place developed towards its implementation. Individual
sections were implemented in an ad hoc fashion with no monitoring or evaluation put in place. As a result,
the OEP was revised and formalized in 2013, leading to the Overseas Employment and Migrants’ Act.

Overseas Employment and Migrants Act (2013)
The Overseas Employment and Migrants’ Act of 2013 is the result of modifications made to the Overseas
Employment Policy of 2006. Its primary contributions come in the form of regulations of the recruitment
process. Section 9 of the law lays down the list of professional background- and conduct related
documents that must be submitted by an applicant wishing to apply for a license to recruit for the
international labor market. This section makes it mandatory that only a license-holder can be a
recruitment agent and thereby it renders all intermediaries and sub-agents of the agents illegal. Section

5
    Interview with BMET representative.

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9 requires the government to investigate an applicant’s past conduct before issuing a license. It also
requires the government to charge a license fee to the applicant in exchange for issuing a recruitment
agent license.

Section 10 of the Migrants’ Act 2013 puts forth eligibility criteria for potential recruiters. This section sets
the way for the international recruitment organizations to obtain a recruitment agent license and to
operate from Bangladesh, if 60% of shares in or capital ownership of that organization is with Bangladeshi
nationals. Whether issued to an individual or to an organization, the recruitment license is non-
transferable. Similarly, a license-holding company is required to seek the approval of the government
before making any change in the ownership pattern.

In order to ensure monitoring of recruitment agents, Section 11 of the law clarifies that the recruitment
license is renewable but valid for a period of three years at a time. Section 13 of the Migrants’ Act lays
down the conditions or reasons that may lead to cancellation or suspension of the license. Under Sections
14, recruitment agents are permitted to open branch offices, a permission intended to undermine the
role of dalals and regional intermediaries in the recruitment process. However, branch offices are
considered financially unviable, so this change in the statute is unlikely to significantly impact existing
recruitment structures.

Section 15 lays down the duties of recruitment agents to ensure safe migration and protection of the
workers’ interests. Section 16 places a responsibility on the government to establish a performance-based
grading system for the classification of recruitment agents, which was established with support from the
IOM.

However, while final outcomes are yet to be seen, there a significant concerns around GoB’s ability to
enforce the Act. As of 2014, BAIRA was refusing to agree to the terms set out in the Act regarding
recruitment practices. BAIRA’s stated concern is that the law could be compromised by officials who
would oversee implementation, and that the categorization and ranking of recruitment agencies may fall
under the influence of bribes. To our knowledge this dispute has not yet been resolved, but could certainly
undermine GoB’s attempts at reforming the recruitment industry

Five Year Plans
Overseas employment was also, on a higher order level, brought into the national growth strategy via the
Sixth Five Year Plan (published in 2011). This policy framework focuses specifically on increasing the skills
of overseas workers. While the current overseas employment strategy focuses on sending low skilled
manpower; the new strategy will focus on sending semi‐skilled and skilled manpower to existing as well
as new destinations. Specifically, the goal of the new strategy is to increase overseas employment of
skilled labor from 35% to 50% of the overseas workforce. In the Seventh Five Year Plan (published in 2016),
the status of migration was raised to a primary goal under the plan for boosting the services sector. This
plan contains very ambitious goals for continued upskilling of the Bangladeshi migrant population and
diversification of access to foreign labor markets. As yet it is not clear what steps have been taken towards
its implementation as the plan was only recently enacted.


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.




    Page | 10
Government Institutions
There are five key government ministries in Bangladesh which deal with international labor migration: the
Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment (MEWOE); the Ministry of Home Affairs; the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Ministry of Finance; and the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism.

Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment
In 2002, GoB created a new ministry – the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment
(MEWOE) – and transferred to it functions previously performed by the Bureau of Manpower,
Employment and Training within the Ministry of Labor. MEWOE is responsible for implementing the rules
framed in 2002 under the Emigration Ordinance 1982 and now the 2013 Overseas Employment and
Migrants Act. Three entities exist under MEWOE: the Bureau of Manpower, Employment, and Training
(BMET), The Wage Earners Welfare Board, and Probashi Kallyan Bank (PKB).

Its activities are concentrated in two broad areas: firstly, to create overseas employment opportunities
and secondly, to address problems experienced by expatriates and to ensure their welfare. More specific
functions include:

    •   Exploring foreign employment opportunities and markets by negotiating and signing agreements
        and MOUs with migration related international organizations and governments of receiving
        countries;
    •   To provide comprehensive training and modernize the overall training system to create a skilled
        labor force as per the needs of the foreign labor markets;
    •   To take measures to bring back the dead bodies of the migrant workers and extend financial aid
        to the families of the deceased workers, take care of afflicted migrant workers, provide
        scholarships to the children of migrant workers through Wage Earners’ Welfare Fund and to
        undertake other welfare activities for the migrant workers; and
    •   Providing for the protection of workers while abroad by administering labor wings of diplomatic
        missions and addressing complaints of migrant workers.

MEWOE has a strong reputation within the government for being notably goal-oriented and high capacity
in its leadership positions. However, the ministry suffers from severe resource shortages. MEWOE and its
line agencies face a shortage of human resources as well as inadequate infrastructure. These issues
undermine its capacity to adequately provide some of its key functions.

According to IOM representatives, MEWOE’s main weakness is a lack of coordination with other
ministries. While migration is a multidisciplinary issue and touches on the mandate of many different
ministries (such as the Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Education, etc) MEWOE appears to lack strong
connections and cooperation with these ministries. In particular, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
MEWOE are co-chairs of the Global Forum on Migration and Development currently, there appear to be
difficulties in coordination and cooperation. In this same vein, there is difficulty in coordinating collection
of data on return migrants by the Immigration Police at the airports. As a result, attempts to establish a
return database have been unsuccessful, leaving MEWOE with no information on what migrants have


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returned to the country. The Prime Minister has proposed a new committee which would convene
relevant ministries on migration policy to achieve better cooperation; however, this committee has not
yet been formed.

Bureau of Manpower, Employment, and Training
The Bureau of Manpower, Employment, and Training is the executing agency of the Ministry of
Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment in respect to processing labor migration. BMET was
created in 1976 by the Government to ensure maximum benefit from labor migration to the national
economy. Since the Emigration Ordinance of 1982, it has been working as the implementing agency of the
Ordinance. It is responsible for regulating the entire migration process and is engaged for overall planning
and implementation of the strategies for proper utilization of manpower of the country. Currently BMET
is responsible for a wide range of functions including: regulating and licensing recruiting agencies;
collection and analysis of labor market information; registration and clearance of job seekers for local and
foreign employment; development and implementation of training programs in response to specific labor
needs both in the national and international labor market; development of apprentice and in-plant
programs within existing industries; organizing pre-departure briefing sessions as well as several technical
training programs; and resolving legal disputes. BMET is also beginning to conduct market research for
ten key receiving countries with the help of ILO; however, there is currently no systematic permanent
mechanism in place for conducting this research. BMET performs a wide array of functions, but does so
with very constrained monetary and personnel resources. This limits its ability to function at a high level,
despite admirable efforts on the part of its staff.




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III. Facilitating Access

Institutions to overcome information asymmetries and match labor supply and demand are widely
acknowledged as a crucial element of domestic employment strategies. Overseas labor markets typically
involve far greater challenges in terms of identifying jobs, matching workers with vacancies, and reducing
information asymmetries. As such, to increase employment abroad, countries need to develop ALMPs
that strengthen labor intermediation and recruitment to international markets. The labor intermediation
and recruitment process is crucial to migration outcomes in terms of income impacts, employment
outcomes, and migrant welfare. In a competitive environment, a transparent job intermediation process
will require adherence to a common set of agreed operational frameworks on the part of both public and
private stakeholders. Thus a system that allows for both coordination and oversight between these
stakeholders must be in place to ensure the positive participation of private recruiting agencies. Enhancing
the governance of this system, either via new institutions for governing labor intermediation or
innovations in the recruitment industry, can lead to improved employment outcomes for migrants and
enhanced access to potential labor markets.

Bangladesh currently has a mix of private and public recruitment systems which connect workers with
overseas employment. District Employment Manpower Offices serve as a centralized location for workers
to find information about overseas employment and register in the BMET database. On the public
recruitment side, BMET is responsible for all recruitment through G2G agreements (such as those with
Malaysia and possibly emerging with the Maldives), and the Bangadesh Overseas Employment Services
Limited conducts recruitment for small batches of more skilled workers. On the private recruitment side,
private recruiters, dalals, and family members often act in a chain to find overseas employment.

Public Employment Services

District Employment Manpower Offices
In recent years, MEWOE and BMET have diversified geographically in an effort to be more accessible to
potential migrants. 42 District Employment Manpower Offices (DEMOs) have been established, and the
direction is towards setting up DEMOs in every district of Bangladesh. Under the Seventh Five Year Plan,
the goal is to establish 68 DEMOs and four divisional offices in order to expand access to overseas
employment in more isolated, lagging areas. However, the existing DEMOs currently need more technical
staff and community outreach staff in order to accomplish their objective of connecting workers with
overseas employment. It is not clear whether both objectives can be accomplished at the same time, or
whether MEWOE should focus on

Bangladesh Overseas Employment Services Limited
Established by GoB in 1984, BOESL is the only State-owned overseas recruitment company in Bangladesh.
It operates as a private run company, but the majority of shares are owned by the Government of
Bangladesh. Its purpose is to take on a direct recruitment role, in order to create competition with private
recruiters and drive sown the cost of recruitment. One of the main objectives of the institution is to
minimize recruitment and migration cost through the provision of services for migrant workers under a


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“no profit, no loss” strategy. BOESL fixes the cost of migration based on occupation, and cuts costs in part
by operating through the BMET database of workers.

Though BOESL is relatively small and has low recruitment numbers, its main concern is with the quality of
the recruitment process rather than quantity. By February 1999, BOESL had recruited a total of 8,900
workers i.e., 0.31% of the total number of those who went overseas though the official channel. BOESL is
now a subordinate organization of the MEWOE and has taken on a lesser role in direct recruitment. Up
through the 2011–12 financial year, a total of 31,149 migrant workers have gone abroad through BOESL.
It is currently looking to expand by opening regional offices as well as offices in more key receiving
countries for Bangladeshi workers. BOESL is also currently responsible for enhancing and processing all
foreign employment demands from overseas governments or individuals. In addition, it promotes the
employment of Bangladeshis in other countries. BOESL has also been responsible for recruitment in
several of Bangladesh’s G2Gs, except Malaysia as the number of required workers was too high for its
capacity. BOESL sends mainly skilled workers, particularly through the Korea Employment Permit System.

Private Employment Services
There are three main avenues through which Bangladeshi workers find employment in foreign labor
markets: recruiting agencies, intermediaries (dalals), and friends/family. Under the supervision, direction,
and control of MEWOE and BMET, approximately 1200 international recruiting agencies are currently in
operation in Bangladesh. In addition a large number of sub-agents and intermediaries (dalals) operate
across the country – current estimates place the numbers at 10,000 sub-agents and around 1,350 travel
agencies. About 53% of migrant workers use intermediaries, while 13% of migrants migrate through
private recruiting agencies directly.

Private Recruiting Agents
There are approximately 1200 recruiting agencies operating in Bangladesh. However, many of these
registered recruitment agencies re believed to be inactive. These agents work under license from the
MEWOE, and are expected to collect information on labor demand in the overseas job market,
immigration processes, and working and living conditions, and identify job placement opportunities. The
recruiting agents may receive information about vacancies and a demand letter for placement of the
workers from the concerned foreign employer directly or via overseas recruiting agencies contracted by
the overseas employer.

However, very few Bangladeshi recruiting agents have direct access to those markets. As a result,
recruiting agents in Bangladesh have to rely on relationships with those overseas recruiting
agents/brokers to secure demand letters or job offers. Bangladeshi recruiting agents operate largely
through the recruiting agencies and sub-agents operating in the destination countries. These private
agencies, on their own behalf, collect information on demand in overseas job markets and seek out orders
for foreign employment.

In the case of Saudi recruitment for female domestic workers, recruiters tried a different approach given
the tight time frame. Job fairs were held in 64 districts, for three days in each district. 100 recruiters were
involved in this effort, with 3-4 recruiters present at each job fair. This approach proved to be

                                                                                                     Page | 14
unsuccessful, though it is not known whether this was because of the approach or because the terms of
employment where considered unsatisfactory.

Historically, private recruiting agents were governed by the Recruiting Agents Code of Conduct and
License Rules of 2002. The Recruiting Agents Code of Conduct and License Rules 2002 set the following
standards with which recruiting agents must conform: maintain regular office and signboard; maintain an
information and consultation centre; recruit competent candidates for migration and recruit candidates
from the databank of potential candidates; avoid competition for visas, work permits, etc among
themselves; ensure that employers maintain the service terms during the service time; not demand any
additional fees (except service charges) from migrants; and ensure the presence of selected workers at
BMET briefing center for the pre-departure training. In order to maintain their license, a recruiting agent
must have found employment abroad for a minimum of 300 migrant workers within the last five years
(otherwise their license will expire and half of the security deposit will be forfeited).

However, the Recruiting Agents Code of Conduct did not historically provide a mechanism for classifying
and scoring agencies. As such, there has been little information available to prospective migrants on
where to find recruiters who adhere to the code of conduct and are known for being reliable. However,
this was changed in the Labor Rules 2015, which established new procedures for registering and grading
manpower agencies. However, this act has not yet begun to be implemented, and it is believed that BAIRA
is not necessarily on board with implementation.

BAIRA
Recruiting agencies have organized under the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies
(BAIRA). This association was formed in December 1984 with representatives of 23 recruiting agencies. By
2002, the association had a membership of around 700 agencies; today, it has approximately 1200
member agencies. These agencies are represented by 37 elected members on the BAIRA board which
convenes member agencies on a monthly basis.

BAIRA works in collaboration with GoB and is one of the largest trade bodies affiliated with the Federation of
Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI). However, this relationship has been called into
question on several occasions. IOM representatives have stated that BAIRA needs better dialogue with the
government, such that it encourages the private sector while increasing and strengthening regulation. BAIRA
has been accused of setting high legal recruitment fees, and failing to providing sufficient financial
compensation to workers who lodged complaints or address illegal practices of its member agencies. In spite
of all this, both BAIRA and GoB representatives spoke highly of the other party and it is difficult to judge the
current state of the relationship.

Dalals
Almost all private recruiting agencies are based in Dhaka, as it is not financially viable to have offices
throughout the country. In fact until the Overseas Employment and Migrants Act of 2013 was passed by
the Parliament in October 2013) recruiting agents could not legally open sub-offices at the district level.
As such, private recruitment agencies work with local sub-agents, known colloquially as dalals, who find
and refer prospective migrants from villages and areas far from city centers. Dalals perform two key


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functions: the recruitment of workers and financial transactions. Recruitment at the grass-roots level is
conducted verbally, with even payments made without a receipt.

Dalals are usually known within their communities, and consequently, potential migrants and their family
members are able to access them more easily than the recruiting agents. 35% of Bangladeshi returnee
migrants reported that the intermediaries they used lived in their own village and 33% said that they lived
in another village in the same district. Only 0.25% of the respondents secured the help of intermediaries
based in Dhaka. According to recruiting agents, people in rural areas are unwilling to place their trust in
nonlocal organizations that prospective migrants will work with local sub-agents even if the subagents
charge more than the recruiting agents (Afsar 2009).

There is a significant dearth of information on the prevalence and operations of dalals. The dalal system
has not been institutionalized. The dalals (informal agents) are not formally registered with the recruiting
agents they serve and do not possess any formal identification documents. Upon inquiry, BAIRA officials
noted that while they do not interact with dalals directly, they had no knowledge of whether or not
member recruiting agencies paid other agents to find workers. As dalals and illegal subagents are not
registered under any government or private institutions, it is very difficult to estimate the total number
of intermediaries operating in Bangladesh. However, a recent study (Siddiqui, 2011) estimated that about
10,000 intermediaries were operating in Bangladesh.

Migrants also tend to have very little information about the operations of their dalal. 69% said they were
aware that the intermediary who was facilitating their cases was working for an agency, while 14% said
their understanding was that the intermediary was working independently and another 12% said they did
not know if they worked for an agency.

Informal Recruitment
Approximately 55-60% of recruitment in Bangladesh is conducted through individual initiatives and social
networks. The expense incurred by migrants through migration on their own is less than the expense
incurred through the use of registered recruiting agents (Siddiqui 2005). But in most instances, migration
on one’s own with the assistance of relatives and friends is also dependent on the purchase of
employment visas or bribes, which keeps the cost high, although not as high as it would be if fully
dependent on illegal intermediaries or sub-agents and registered recruiting agents. The risk of fraudulent
practices in obtaining a visa through friends is also considered to be less than the risk when passing
through formal recruiting agents.

Because Bangladesh law requires all low to skilled workers (i.e., all non-professional workers) to migrate
for overseas employment after registering with the BMET, discussions with workers suggest that those
workers who obtained job contracts through individual contacts often approach recruiting agents to get
their job contracts validated and to process them for migration. Recruiting agents charge a commission
for this service.




                                                                                                  Page | 16
Page | 17
Employment Process
The recruitment and migration process from Bangladesh to receiving countries is a 16 step process,
beginning with the registration of the recruiting agency and ending when the migrant worker departs for
the destination country. This section of the report goes through the ideal recruitment process from start
to finish, while identifying gaps and departures from the ideal process in the status quo.

Step 1: Bangladeshi recruitment agency registers with BMET
The Recruting Agents Code of 2002 established the procedure for approval and renewal of recruiting
licenses. In order to apply for a license, a recruiting agent must submit the following docuements to the
Director General of BMET: the business plan, income tax returns for the last two year, a deposit of BDT
100,000, an agreement to recruit competent workers and acceptance of liability for recruitment activities;
an organizational chart, office layour, list of employees, and information on training facilities. Once these
documents are submitted, they are verified for approval by officials within BMET. This process is intended
to take no more than 30 days, and on average takes 7-14 days. Once the documents are verified and
submitted for approval to MEWOE, the recruiting agency submits a deposit license fee, secutiry deposit,
and savings certificate. Once these items are received the recruiting agency receives a one year recruiting
license.

Once the license expires, the agency must apply for a renewal of its license. This application consists of a
renewal fee and report on the previous year’s activities. BMET officials then review the agency for
misconduct, violation of rules and regulations, additional cost charges, or support of irregular migration.
However, due to limited capacity in BMET, in reality these reviews are rarely performed in any meaningful
way.

Step 2: Needs identified and communicated to MPA
The recruitment process itself begins when an employer in the destination country advertises an open
position. While Bangladeshi recruiting agents, working under a license from the MEWOE, are expected to
collect information on labor demand in the overseas job market and identify job placement opportunities,
these agencies rarely have direct access to the destination labor market. As such, they operate largely
through the recruiting agencies and sub-agents operating in the destination countries. Agents in the
destination country collect information such as vacancies posted by employers, and then send them on
to recruiters in Bangladesh. These private actors then introduce the employer to the recruiting agency in
Bangladesh.

The relationship between recruiters in both countries is being redesigned in the recent reopening of the
Saudi corridor. The new agreement stipulates that each recruiting agency can work with only three
recruiters in the other country. That is, each Bangladeshi recruiting agency can pair with three recruiters
in Saudi Arabia, and each Saudi recruiting agency can pair with only three recruiters in Bangladesh. This
creates some concerns for recruiters in Bangladesh when paired with the emergence of 10 main mega
recruiting agencies in Saudi Arabia which will take up a significant portion of the market. This new
stipulation implies that only 30 Bangladeshi recruiting agencies would be able to do business with the
mega recruiters, which would significantly limit their access to the Saudi labor market.


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Step 3: Approval of Employer's demand letter
Once the employer in the destination country and the recruiting agency in Bangladesh have come to an
agreement, the employer sends a demand letter in the name of the recruiting agency to the Bangladeshi
embassy in the destination country. The embassy then conducts a visit to the employer to review the
living and working conditions. If the conditions are acceptable, the embassy then verifies and approves
the demand letter and sends it to the recruiting agency in Bangladesh via the agent in the destination
country. However, in reality these site visits rarely occur, and demand letters are not verified in any way.

Step 4: Preparation and approval of Job Orders
The recruiting agency in Bangladesh sends along the demand letter to MEWOE for approval. If the job
order is for fewer than 100 workers, it is approved by BMET; if it for more than 100 workers it is approved
by MEWOE.

Step 5: Issuance of "First Approval" by BMET
Once the job orders are approved, the recruiter draws up draft versions of the advertisements and sends
them to BMET for approval.

Step 6: Vacancies advertised and candidates shortlisted
If the vacancy advertisement is approved, the recruiting agency is required to advertise in a minimum of
two newspapers. Candidates who respond are then shortlisted and moved on to interviews. However, in
reality most of the positions are never advertised. This step is the primary role of dalals, who select
candidates based on personal connections and forward them on to the recruiting agency in Dhaka. This
step may be skipped if recruiters go through the BMET database described in the following step to identify
and contact qualified candidates; however, it appears that BOESL is the primary user of the database. In
the recent reopening of the Saudi corridor, job vacancies are being more directly advertised by Saudi
recruiters and Bangladeshi recruiters via job fairs in 64 districts across Bangladesh.

Step 7: Candidate interview and selection
After meeting all the requirements of the BMET and MEWOE, recruiting agents are expected to recruit
workers as per the skills requirements received from the employer or through the overseas recruiting
agent. Currently, the MEWOE requires that a recruiting agent gives priority to those workers who are
included in a database developed by the BMET and the DEMOs. This database has details of those workers
who have expressed an interest in migrating for employment by filling in an online from.

The potential migrant may register their name and other particulars at any of the 42 District Employment
and Manpower Offices (DEMOs) of the BMET or at the office of BAIRA. The application forms are available
free of cost at the DEMOs and at branches of Sonali Bank. The forms can also be downloaded from the
website of the BMET.

The occupations listed in the BMET database that appear to generate the greatest demand for
Bangladeshi workers include carpentry, electric/electrical service, masonry, A/C and refrigerator repair
service, painting, plumbing, driving, welding, steel/rod binding, tailoring, construction work, nursing,



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engineering work, managerial service, supervisory service, caregiving, saloon work, cooking, agricultural
work/farming, and service at hotels/restaurants.

The database does contain a mechanism for reporting skills and qualifications; however, there is currently
no mechanism for verifying these skills. This decreases the credibility of the database and undermines its
original purpose of reducing the role of the recruiter in the job placement process.

Each registered candidate is supplied with a registration ID card with a unique registration number.
Registration is mandatory for all prospective overseas job seekers. Each job seeker can use this ID in future
for any BMET services relating to overseas employment. The migrant worker computer database network
was developed so that it could be accessed in/utilized by the following institutions:

    •   BMET main office;
    •   MEWOE;
    •   DEMOs;
    •   Sahajalal International Airport, Dhaka;
    •   Shah Amanat International Airport,
    •   Chittagong; and
    •   Osmani International Airport, Sylhet.

All of these institutions has an operator on hand to assist workers in inputting their information.
Registration costs 50 taka. The database contains demographic and identification information, but does
not include information on education, skills, or occupation.

However, registered candidates are rarely given priority. Candidates generally are selected based on their
relationships with dalals and the entire registration process is sidestepped. Further, despite efforts to
make registration more accessible via the DEMOs and operators on hand, it is often difficult for remote
and illiterate workers (which compose the majority of the Bangladeshi expatriate workforce) to access
registration. It has also been suggested that dalals set up shop around the registration kiosk and extract
rent by charging more than the required 50 taka to help workers register in the database and promising
them a job if they register through them.

Step 8: Sign contract

Once the candidate has been selected, a contract is signed between the employer and the Bangladeshi
worker. However, in a 2013 Asia Foundation survey more than 61.3% of Bangladeshi migrants reported
that no written documents had been provided to them explaining terms and conditions of their
prospective jobs. In many cases where Bangladesh migrants were fortunate enough to receive a written
contract, the migrants were not able to read the contract as it was not in their native language. Migrant
workers are also often unable to interpret clauses, conditions, and loopholes in their contracts due to lack
of relevant knowledge skills or an inability to interpret the complex language used. In the case of the
Malaysia G2G, workers did have the chance to review their contract, but only after they had arrived in
Malaysia, at which point it was of no real material benefit to them.

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Even when they do have access to their contract, 21% of Bangladeshi migrant workers who already had
employment contracts found that their work was not as stipulated in the contract, and about 46% were
deprived of the remuneration specified in their employment contract. Contract switching such as this is
of particular concern in the reopening of the Saudi corridor, as Bangladeshi recruiters are concerned that
the wage being offered to Bangladeshi workers is too low to entice them to accept, but also feel pressure
from the Saudis to increase their number of recruited workers. They report that this is creating pressure
to misrepresent the terms and conditions of work in Saudi Arabia to entice more workers.

Step 9: Issue Passport
The passport is issued by the Department of Immigration and Passports. In the case of the Malaysia G2G,
workers had to go to MEWOE in Dhaka to obtain both their passport and smartcard, at which time their
biometrics and physical data was also taken. However, this appears to have been a particular requirement
of the Malaysia agreement. Because recruitment agencies in Bangladesh usually process a large number
of passports at any given time and capacity is limited, this step often introduces long delays and hasty
verification which fails catch falsification in clearances. There are also many cases where agents sign the
forms on migrants’ behalf placing them at risk at the destination when immigration officials find their
signatures do not match the signature in the passport. In the current agreement with Saudi Arabia,
passports are also being issued at the job fairs for domestic workers, which should speed up the process
considerably, though care should be taken to ensure that this does not become an opportunity for rent
extraction.

Step 10: Issue clearance
Once the contract has been signed, the migrant must be issued clearance. Every selected worker has to
be issued an electronic smart card and clearance to migrate after the worker has fulfilled the mandatory
pre-migration requirements, which sometimes are customized to meet specific conditions put forth by a
country of destination. In general, the requirements to be met before clearance can be given include a
review of all contract and migration documents, a criminal background check, a health check, the opening
of a bank account, fingerprinting and registration, and the reception of a smart card. Health testing is
currently conducted in 9 government centers stationed around the country; however, for the reopening
of the Saudi corridor, the Saudi government is funding 26 more centers to speed up the process of health
clearance.

Many of these clearance checks are either foregone or more commonly are falsified by the recruitment
agencies and dalals. Additionally, limited capacity in BMET often creates long delays in issuing clearances,
which is particularly problematic because the potential migrant has already paid money, which is likely in
short supply in their household (IOM 2010). As an answer to this, IOM offered training on document
verification to BMET and MEWOE employees, though the impact of this has not yet been evaluated.

Step 11: Visa processing and Issuance
Once the passport is issued, it is sent to the destination country’s embassy in Dhaka which issues a work
visa after checking the documents. Bangladeshi migrants typically use two types of visas for migration to
GCC countries. Iqama or individual employment visas rely on the sponsorship of a Saudi company or


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citizenship. This allows the workers to work in a pre-assigned job but no other. A visa via the nominal
sponsorship system or “free visa” system is far more expensive. This visa allows the holder to enter the
country, but does not allow them to work. Those who find employment under this system are often
required to pay a monthly sum to the nominal sponsor.

Recruitment processes differ based on if the migrant worker is going to the GCC on a group or individual
visa. Under a group visa, the recruiter issues a work permit for a group of employees without specifying
individuals; rather, a block Visa Advice is issued. The visas are then issued and the agency is enabled to
recruit workers on the bases of a demand letter with a sample employment contract. Once the workers
are selected, the recruitment agent applies to BMET for clearance, and the GCC embassy in Dhaka attests
to the individual visa for each employee.

Under the individual visa, the visa is issued in the first step of the process after receiving a job offer. The
GCC embassy then attests the employment contract, and the visa is stamped by the GCC embassy in
Dhaka. Clearance is attained by BMET at this point. While the differences between these two processes
are subtle, migrants often lack information or understanding of the differences which can lead to
additional costs or undocumented status.

The buying and selling of visas has become a highly profitable business. A nexus of interest has developed
among high-level state functionaries in the labor-receiving countries, their recruiting agents, a group of
expatriate Bangladeshis and a section of Bangladeshi recruiting agents. As a result, it has become
extremely difficult to secure a visa through what were formerly considered to be the regular channels.




In the case of migration to Saudi Arabia, recruiting agents or illegal sub-agents in Bangladesh manage to
secure visas by purchasing them from sub-agents/ migrant workers in Saudi Arabia. These sub-agents in
Saudi Arabia often are people who themselves arrived in that country as migrant workers. Having
established themselves, they trade in visas and act as intermediaries as a secondary business. These sub-
agents, acting in the manner of door-to-door sales agents, visit employers to identify vacancies and offer
the services of the recruitment agencies for whom they may be working. In many cases, overseas



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employers prefer to rely on recruiting agencies in their own country to share the legal liability of bringing
a migrant worker into the country (Martin 2009).

These recruiting agencies then auction the visas or the demand letters among Bangladeshi recruiting
agents. They buy visas from Saudi businesses/employers for between BDT42,600 to BDT127,800
(considering the currency conversion rate on 17 August 2013 of SAR1.00 = BDT21.30). They then sell these
visas to potential migrants in Bangladesh directly or to illegal sub-agents and recruiting agents in
Bangladesh. In this process, the illegal sub-agents in Saudi Arabia make a profit of about BDT10,650 to
BDT42,600 per permit (Afsar 2009).

Recruiting agents and illegal sub-agents in Bangladesh have refused to disclose their total share in
recruitment and migration cost. However, they admitted that intermediaries in Bangladesh tend to make
a profit of about BDT30,000 to BDT50,000 per Saudi visa. One illegal sub-agent said that when determining
the recruitment and migration charge for a migrant worker, illegal sub-agents consider following
additional costs and risk factors: the processing fee of recruiting agents (about BDT7,500), bribes (e.g., for
local police), and additional time-cost that they incur pursuing government officials for passport, visa, and
migration clearance. The extent to which visas are traded through these channels has been made clear by
statements from authorities in some destination countries. One Saudi minister has claimed that 70% of
the visas issued by Saudi Arabia are traded on the black market.

Another significant, if somewhat lesser, concern in this stage of the process is delays created in waiting
for visa approval from the receiving country. This has been of particular concern in the Malaysia G2G,
where visas have been delayed for up to a year and a half. This places a significant burden on the migrant,
as they have already paid money to process their clearances and obtain their passport and rely on the
income from working abroad to cover these costs.

Step 12: Issue travel ticket
Once the visa is issued, the recruitment agency is charged with booking the ticket for the migrant
worker at no charge, as the charge is covered by the employer. However, in reality the cost of the ticket
is frequently borne by the worker, as can be seen in the cost section of this report.

Step 13: Pre-departure training
Through an executive order on 11 April 2008 MEWOE made pre-departure briefing mandatory for
outgoing migrant workers. The issuance of emigration clearance was made contingent attendance of pre-
departure orientation. Prospective migrant workers are required to participate in this module which
teaches them about the rules and regulations that they are supposed to abide by in their respective
destination countries. Officials of BMET and Ministries of Foreign Affairs and MEWOE conduct the BMET
pre-departure trainings.

In 2012 out of almost 607,798 workers who went abroad only 18,000 (2.96%) attended the pre-departure
briefing. As such, a majority of respondents did not have any form of pre-departure training or briefing
prior to migration. Some recruiting agents avoid sending their workers to such briefings and trainings
organized by the BMET, and instead pay bribes to obtain the certificates for prospective migrant workers.

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However, BMET reports that an increasing percentage of migrants are availing themselves of the two-
hour pre-departure briefing sessions financed by the Wage Earners’ Welfare Fund.

Even for those migrants that do receive the training, orientations are also very short, at most lasting only
a day, and in many cases are conducted just days before departure, which limits their effectiveness. For
instance, the orientation delivered by BMET includes the showing of two videos: a 13- minute
presentation on overseas employment procedures and a 15-minute presentation on vocational training.
There are also only three country specific trainings, whereas BMET’s goal is to make pre-departure training
universal and to offer tailored training for all main receiving countries.

With specific regard to migration by women workers, this module also teaches prospective domestic
workers how to perform the household tasks that they will be expected to do as part of their employment
overseas.

Step 14: Depart for Destination Country
Once all of these steps have been completed, the worker departs for the destination country, where
ideally they are met by a representative of their employer at the airport. At this point the recruitment
process is complete, and the focus transitions to migrant welfare.




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IV. Fortifying Access

While many gains arise from sending workers overseas, any number of risks surround migrant well-being
and social protection throughout the entire migration process. Workers in foreign labor markets often
face asymmetries in terms of access to rights, protection, and information that increase their vulnerability.
As such, a good labor-sending system should seek to balance mobility with protection by building
institutions and tools that mitigate these risks. A key step to reduce risks associated with working in a
foreign labor market is to provide information throughout the entire migration process, even prior to
departure. Upon arrival in the host country, labor attachés become the first line of protection and risk
mitigation for migrants. Finally, when risks are realized, ensuring that migrants have access to safe and
expedient repatriation is critical to minimizing harm to migrants. Each of these systems should be
strengthened to ensure continuous protection for migrants throughout the entire migrant experience.

In recent years, GoB has made notable efforts towards strengthening migrant welfare and protecting
workers abroad. Protections have come in the form of a migrants’ welfare fund, attaches in host countries,
the establishment of a smart card and electronic passport system, and migrant resource centers. In
addition, migrants have established associations among themselves. However, concerns regarding the
protection and well-being of migrants remain. The primary concerns in terms of migrant welfare include
abuse by employers, withholding of pay, lack of access to outside communication, lack of access to the
embassy, lack of information being kept on the migrant, culture shock, and homesickness.

Missions/Attaches

Currently 28 Bangladesh missions abroad are equipped with a labor wing to provide for migrant welfare
and protection. As stated in the Seventh Five Year Plan, GoB has set its sights on opening 50 new labor
wings in its embassies in order to strengthen welfare services of expatriates’ and expand overseas market.
These labor wings have the following tasks regarding labor migration: (a) exploring the potential labor
markets; (b) attestation of documents pertaining to recruitment; (c) providing consular services for
Bangladeshi workers; and (d) ensuring the welfare of migrant workers. The labor attaches also run safe
houses for migrants in Riyadh, Dubai, and Lebanon, as well as providing legal aid services to migrants. In
Jordan, Lebanon, and Dubai, the labor offices are also staffed with female workers who are better able to
address the needs of female migrants working as domestic workers.

However, there seems to be a disconnect between Bangladeshi missions and overseas workers. Of 100
return migrants surveyed in a 2013 Asia Foundation report, only 13 had sought embassy assistance during
their stay. Most of the labor migrants did not think of approaching the Bangladeshi missions for help when
they faced problems. In general, many labor migrants did not know about the existence of Bangladeshi
missions in their country of employment. Those who were aware did not have a clear idea about the role
of missions in protecting workers’ interests.

The problems that labor migrants took up with the mission were those of contract substitution, non-
payment of salary and harassment by police. Another common problem regarded the issuance or renewal
of passports. A number of interviewees said that when they reported loss of documents to the Bangladesh

                                                                                                   Page | 25
mission, the staff of the mission did not acknowledge them as Bangladeshis. The general attitude of the
embassy staff was to send aggrieved labor migrants back to Bangladesh rather than attempt to redress
their grievances.

This accused dismissiveness is likely due in large part to limitations on the capacity of the embassy to
provide solutions for migrants. The labor attaches face a large case load, but lack funding and manpower
to address each case specifically. As government representatives, labor attaches also face significant
constraints in their freedom to operate within the host country. They are given very little access to
communication with or information regarding migrants after they arrive, and therefore often do not have
the access they need to check on migrant welfare or address problems.6

Given the disconnect between workers and the embassy, migrants tend to contact their recruiter when
they need assistance rather than the labor attaché. The recruiter then contacts the embassy; however, it
appears that the burden of resolving the situation often falls to the recruiter, as it has greater access to
the migrant and more resources to leverage with operators in the host country.7

Because it has such limited capacity, the embassy also does not offer standard services offered by labor
attaches of other sending countries. For example, the Sri Lankan embassy picks up workers from airport
to ensure their safe arrival. The employer then picks up the worker from the embassy and signs the
contract under the supervision of the labor attaché’s office. This gives the embassy more direct access to
the worker immediately when they enter the country, which feeds into stronger access throughout their
duration of stay in the host country.

Wage Earners’ Welfare Fund

In 1990, GoB created a fund for ensuring the welfare of wage earners. The Wage Earners’ Welfare Fund is
funded through subscriptions from migrant workers; the interest earned on the deposit of licenses of
recruiting agencies; a surcharge of 10% on the fees collected through Bangladesh missions abroad; and
individual and institutional contributions. The subscriptions paid by migrant workers constitute the bulk
of the Fund. These comprise a fee of BDT 100 per person under a group visa, BDT 300 for an individual
visa with the attestation of the Bangladesh missions in the country concerned and BDT 800 for an
individual unattested visa. Further funds are generated from percentages of fees paid to Bangladeshi
missions abroad, and on interests of bonds to recruiters. The fund is operated by the Wage Earners’
Welfare Board, whose sole task is to run the fund.

The Fund was created with eight specific objectives: (a) the establishment of a hostel/briefing center; (b)
the organization of an orientation and briefing program; (c) the establishment of a welfare desk at the
airport; (d) the transfer of the bodies of deceased migrant workers; (e) providing assistance to sick,
disabled and stranded migrant workers, (f) providing financial help to the families of deceased migrant
workers; (g) providing legal assistance to the migrant workers through the embassies and (h) the


6
    Interview with MEWOE representative
7
    Interview with BAIRA representative.

                                                                                                  Page | 26
establishment of a recreation club and information center under the auspices of the Bangladesh missions
abroad.

In practice, the welfare fund largely covers repatriation of deceased migrants, burial funds, and stipends
for their families. It also covers the welfare desks in the airports and pre-departure orientation. However,
it does not cover many services covered by welfare funds in other countries, including: integration and
reintegration assistance, medical and life insurance, or loans. Further is no other form of medical or life
insurance available to migrants, as a scheme to provide this through BAIRA has not been successful.

Crucially, the fund also does not cover for return home in situations where the worker feels unsafe and is
unable to return for their return home. This means that the responsibility falls either to the migrants
themselves or their recruiters to fund their travel home. It is often impossible for the migrants to fund it
themselves, and the recruiters are often unwilling to do so. Recruiters note that it is difficult to verify
whether the worker is truly in danger, and are concerned that if they have a lenient policy regarding paying
for travel home there would be significantly more cases of runaways.

Smart Card

In February 2010, Bangladesh's government introduced the smart card, a tag with a small computer chip
developed by BMET with assistance from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. The
smart card contains all the information available in the migrant's passport, the migrant's fingerprints and
the name and license number of the recruiting agency the migrant used so that authorities can identify
all the parties involved in the migration process. When leaving Bangladesh, migrants with smart cards
simply insert them in a card reader at the airport and their embarkation forms can be printed out. In cases
where workers' passports may be seized and recourse difficult without proper documentation, the card
contains enough information to get the support required despite the loss of original documents. By 2013,
1.7 million smart cards had been issued to migrant workers before their departure.

However, in 2011, the smart card readers at the airports stopped functioning properly and the airport’s
welfare desk reports that they have reverted to a manual system. They have since been reestablished;
however, they continue to be used only at the airport. A senior official of BMET noted that migrant
workers simply throw away the card after passing the airport because “it is not required anywhere else.”
At minimum, the use of the card should be expanded so that workers scan them again upon return to
Bangladesh to facilitate the development of a return database.

Private Protection Mechanisms

The International Organization for Migration helped establish migrant resource centers (MRCs) in 2007 in
coordination with the relevant governmental authorities and the EU. Thirty five MRCs have since been
set up to provide information to potential migrants on opportunities available abroad, the procedures
related to migration as well as country specific information. The MRCs aim to reach a larger number of
migrants through close coordination with a network of selected NGOs and other social partners and their



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local structures. However, an IOM study found that they have very weak capacity, are not widely used,
and also are not sensitive to gender specific issues.

Similarly, the International Labor Organization has established toll-free helplines in Dubai to increase
contact with migrant workers while abroad. This service cannot be provided through the consulate, which
is in practice allowed to have direct contact with migrant workers in many GCC countries.

In most of the labor-receiving countries, migrants have organized themselves into a wide range of
different associations. Most of the associations are established by the Bangladeshi communities residing
in a particular geographical location of a receiving country (state, district and city). Associations are also
formed on the basis of the district, than a, union or village of origin of the migrants. In some cases,
associations are also formed by different professional groups.

Associations organize cultural programs and observe the various national days of Bangladesh. They also
provide various kinds of support services for the community members, such as finding suitable
accommodation for newcomers and introducing them to markets that carry Bangladeshi food and other
products. These services are also helpful in sharing of work experiences and in learning from each other
about “do’s” and “don’ts” and the cultural sensitivities of the countries concerned. Similarly, the
Bangladesh government has collaborated with a number of civil society groups to provide standardized
training for domestic work.

Cost

Bangladesh is widely known as having one of the highest costs of migration in the world. The average
migrant worker spends BDT 309,259 on their recruitment and migration. In a 2013 survey done by the Asia
Foundation, only 23 of the 75 persons interviewed paid less than BDT 100,000 ($1220), and more than
half of the respondents had to pay BDT 100,001 to 300,000 ($1220 to $3660). Six respondents had to pay
BDT 300,000 to BDT 500,000 ($3660 to $6100).




According to BMET regulations, the total cost of medical checkups, contributions to the Wage Earner’s
Welfare Fund, visa fees, service charges, and orientation training should not exceed BDT 20,000 to the


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worker. Clearly these placement fee caps are not always followed. Fees charged to migrants depend on
many variables, such as the country of destination, the type of work and prospective salary.




78% of recruitment and migration cost, on average, is charged by intermediaries (IOM 2010). Other estimates
go as high as approximately 88% of migration costs believed to be coming from dalals. These costs place a large
burden on migrant, particularly after the additional cost of financing. About 67% of migrant workers secure
funds to pay for recruitment and migration by taking out loans. A considerable portion of migrant workers also
finance the cost of migration by selling land (24%), mortgaging land (23%) and/or selling assets such as jewelry,
cattle, trees, or homes (20%) (IOM, 2010). Some 54.7% of Bangladeshi returnees reported that they had
repaid their loans in 18 months or less.

                                    Source                    Percent
                                    Self                        45
                                    Selling Land and Property   14
                                    Family Members              12
                                    Relatives                   10
                                    Neighbor/Friends            10
                                    Partial Loan                 5
                                    NGO/Financial Institution    4


With a view to reducing the cost of migration, the Government has established ‘‘Expatriates Welfare Bank’
(Probashi Kallyan Bank) for giving loans with simple interest to the aspirant workers going abroad and
providing financial assistance to the returnee migrants to invest in productive activities. PKB has
significant limitations in that because it was created as a welfare bank it cannot profit from remittances
sent by workers. This creates a significant constraint to its ability to scale up and offer larger loans to
migrants or return migrants.

In the reopening of the Saudi corridor, the agreement is that female migrants will pay no recruitment cost.
The only cost to be borne by the worker is that of her passport; however, close observation suggests that
this agreement is already being violated and that female workers are indeed being charged a recruitment
fee.

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Page | 30
V. Furthering Access
Raising the level or visibility of workers’ skills can improve their employment opportunities and promote
their deployment to work abroad. Increasing skills requires close coordination and cooperation between
employers in the host country and training institutions in the source country. Successful training schemes
require thorough screening and skills verification of graduates of training programs to overcome both
training gaps and information asymmetries between different stakeholders across borders. Further, he
limited transferability of skill certifications across borders as a result of misaligned certification systems
can lead to suboptimal recognition and utilization of migrants’ skills. By increasing employers’ access to
information about migrants’ skills, a successful transnational skill development and recognition system
could help address this inefficiency and enhance labor market resource allocation.

BMET has taken up programs for facilitating export of skilled manpower through providing training to the
workers in 53 Technical Training Centers (TTC) (14 of which were set up through IOM) in various trades.
The first TTCs were established in 1943. These training centers target both local as well as international
employment. However, the international trainings are currently not aligned with standards and demand
in labor receiving countries. The Skills Development Policy has identified the need to conduct needs
assessments to ensure that technical and vocational training courses correspond better to the skills
demand in the national and international labor markets.

BMET is the main provider of short trainings (2-3 weeks) in the country; however, it does so in cooperation
with the Ministry of Education, the National Skill Development Council, and several other ministries. Both
BAIRA and BMET have requested more funding for increased supply of training in order to increase the
skill levels of out migrants, in keeping with the National Skills Development Policy, which aims to increase
skilled migrants as a percentage of total migrants from 35% to 50%. However, increasing the supply of
training may be premature as currently classes are not full and there does not appear to be excess demand
for the courses.

The lack of demand is likely affected by the fact that the certifications from the TTCs do little to affect
employment opportunities or wages. IOM developed the current curriculum used in the TTCs; however,
the quality of the training provided in the TTCs is considered highly questionable. Certifications received
from these training courses are both not competency based and not widely accepted or recognized in
foreign labor markets.

Training courses vary in length by occupation and training intensity. For domestic workers, the training is
generally 30 days long; however, in an effort to speed up the process, the Saudi government is limiting
training to 10 days.8 Bangladeshi officials are concerned that this will be too short and will leave
Bangladeshi workers unprepared for both the work in Saudi and any challenges they may face. However,
this concern may be somewhat alleviated by the fact that training is also being offered by mega recruiters
after the workers arrive in Saudi Arabia.




8
    Interview with BAIRA representatives. Vethe

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According to RMMRU, there is tension in administrating the TTCs as two separate ministries, Ministry of
Labor and MEWOE, run these training centers under the supervision of BMET. The Bangladesh Technical
Board of Education is responsible for coordinating the training between ministries; however, BTEB lacks
capacity to perform this function fully. Further, most TTCs face budget deficits and are underequipped to
provide proper training that is up to international standards. This also means they do not have the funds
to offer capacity building to their TTC in order to meet international training standards.

As noted in the Sixth and Seventh Five Year Plans, MEWOE has already taken significant steps towards
upskilling Bangladeshi migrants. Under the Sixth Five Year Plan, several new TTCs and Martine Technology
Institutes were added. Due to these new initiatives the number of total trainees given skill and technical
training has increased from 59554 in 2010 to 115000 in 2014, with this number estimated to increase to
150,000 post-2015. Under the Seventh Five Year Plan, notable new initiatives include adding more TTCs
at the upazila level as well as significant capacity building for trainings via a permanent training institute
for training the trainers.




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VI. Possible Areas for Attention – recommendations for policy reform and
institutional strengthening


We have identified three key areas where policies and institutions could be strengthened:

    1. Improving recruitment processes to reduce rent seeking and perverse incentives among
       recruiters
    2. Balancing mobility with protection to reduce the vulnerability of workers while in destination
       countries
    3. Upskilling labor supply and diversifying foreign labor markets to increase the value of
       Bangladesh’s migration corridors.

Area 1 – Improving Recruitment Processes
One of the key concerns in the Bangladesh migration management system as identified in this review is
rent-seeking and perverse incentives within the recruitment system. Rent-seeking exists in many forms,
including charging migrants for additional services, document fraud to cut cost on clearances and extract
bribes from migrants, overstating migrant qualifications to extract higher fees, and the additional rents
extracted by the perpetuation of the dalal system. Two interventions can be explored to address rent-
seeking in the recruitment process:

    a. E-Musaned portal assessment – The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had launched an online recruitment
       portal via its Ministry of Labor with the intention of introducing transparency into the recruitment
       process, thereby reducing the potential for rent extraction. Bangladesh was the first labor market
       in which the portal was launched, and as such has significant potential to improve access to the
       Saudi labor market for Bangladeshi workers. However, for the portal to accomplish its goals, it
       must be aligned with institutions governing recruitment on the Bangladeshi side. Towards this
       end, an assessment should be conducted to see where the gaps are in alignment of these two
       systems and how they can be brought together to increase transparency and reduce rent seeking
       in the Bangladesh-Saudi recruitment process. Similar technological tools could also be assessed
       or piloted in other corridors.
    b. Designing incentive systems to improve recruitment outcomes – Despite several laudable
       attempts on the part of GoB, perverse incentives still exist within the recruitment system that
       both increase the costs for migrants and lead to adverse employment outcomes. A first step in
       addressing these perverse incentives is to conduct a political economy analysis of what allows
       these systems to persist in the face of efforts to eliminate them. This analysis can inform future
       interventions addressing regulation of the recruitment industry.

Area 2 – Balancing Mobility with Protection
While access to foreign labor markets is a key avenue to improved livelihoods for Bangladeshi workers,
this needs to be complemented with proper protection and assurance of wellbeing while in foreign labor
markets. This is particularly true for female workers, who constitute a rapidly increasing portion of the
Bangladeshi workforce abroad.

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    a. Improving support services abroad - Labor attaches currently lack capacity to perform even the
       base-line functions included in its existing mandate, such as site visits to check conditions in the
       potential foreign employer. Its mandate is also more limited than best practice as identified from
       other labor sending countries, such as reception of arriving migrants at the airport. A complete
       best practice analysis of consular services should be conducted and applied to Bangladeshi
       consulates. This can include peer-to-peer learning and site visits to the consulates of nations such
       as Sri Lanka and the Philippines who face similar challenges in sending workers to the GCC.
    b. Enhancing smartcard system – One of the key problems undermining capacity on the part of the
       embassy is lack of access to information about migrants. The smart card system implemented by
       GoB, despite some technical difficulties, has been widely lauded as a highly innovative approach
       to increasing formality and protection in recruitment processes. However, its potential has been
       underexploited currently as it is only being used for processing at the airport and is often
       discarded by migrants after. Expanding use to the labor wings of embassies, as well as any migrant
       resource centers, would create opportunities to use the smart card as the basis for a
       comprehensive database on Bangladeshi expatriates. In addition to serving as a backup passport,
       it could incorporate information on employer, salary, recruiting agency, and health which would
       allow the embassies to provide much more comprehensive services to its expatriate constituency
       while significantly improving documentation and record keeping on recruitment and migration
       systems. This information would create an opening for the embassy to have significantly increased
       access to the migrants themselves, thereby increasing capacity to provide services as needed.
    c. Repatriation insurance scheme – Ensured access to repatriation in case of emergency or abuse is
       fundamental to migrant wellbeing. Many workers currently remain in dangerous situations
       because recruiters decline to pay for their return home, and they do not have the funds to finance
       their own return. Securing funds prior to migration would provide a safety net in the event that
       repatriation becomes necessary. These funds could be secured from the employer and applied to
       the final month of the worker’s pay in the event that the worker completed their contract, or from
       the recruiter and returned at the end of the contract. This scheme would need to be paired with
       other institutions that allow for repatriation, including access to the embassy and the ability to
       physically leave their place of employment, but would overcome the largest existing hurdle to
       emergency repatriation.

Area 3 – Upskilling of Labor and Diversification of Labor Markets
Despite increasing investment in migrant training via increasing the number of technical training centers,
out migration from Bangladesh remains at the low end of the skill distribution. Two key barriers to
upskilling Bangladeshi migration are first that the skills taught in TTCs are not matched with employer
demand, and second that the training from TTCs is believed to be low quality and therefore is not
considered a strong signal of skill for employers abroad. Further, overreliance on a few key foreign labor
markets leaves Bangladeshi workers vulnerable to market fluctuations in recipient countries, which limits
the potential for migration to increase incomes. To address these barriers, the following interventions
should be considered:




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    a. Labor Market Information Survey - To identify which skills are demanded by foreign employers,
       GoB can develop a labor market information system which surveys foreign employers in order to
       develop projections of skill requirements. This will allow them to target training to meet the
       projected demand, which will provide a key advantage in competing against other labor sending
       countries.
    b. Transnational certification pilot – To achieve the goal as stated in the Sixth Fifth Year Plan to
       increase skilled migrants to 50% of the total migrant population, GoB will need to focus first on
       increased visibility of Bangladeshi worker skills in the international labor market. To do this, it will
       need a way to signal skills across borders, which requires some form of transnational certification
       scheme. Currently, the certifications from the TTCs are not widely accepted or regarded as a
       strong signal of skill. In order to develop a transnational certification system, GoB will need to
       work with employers in receiving countries to incorporate their requirements into how workers
       are tested and certified. This can then be built into the curriculum of the TTCs.
    c. Assessment of existing agreements – To further diversify access to foreign labor markets,
       Bangladesh should assess its existing MOUs and BLAs to identify their strengths and weaknesses.
       It can use this assessment to both increase effectiveness of existing agreements and strengthen
       its position in the negotiation of future agreements. In particular it should look to the Malaysia
       G2G, which in spite of strong demand from Malaysian employers has not been able to send as
       many workers as initially anticipated. Assessing the entire process from initial negotiation through
       to final implementation, as well as comparing it to best practice, can inform the design of future
       agreements to achieve stronger results.

Prioritization of Interventions and Next Steps
Given that these interventions cannot all be implemented simultaneously, it is crucial to identify the quick
wins and highest priorities for improving Bangladesh’s migration management system. Using combined
criteria of urgency and impact, we separate the interventions into three stages.

Short Term Interventions (Quick Wins)
Given the recent reopening of the Saudi corridor, and its focus on female migration, interventions related
to these matters have the potential for the greatest immediate gain. As such, the highest priority
interventions should be:

    a. Repatriation insurance scheme
    b. Improving support services abroad
    c. Recruitment portal assessment ( or similar technological tools for recruitment)

Medium Term Interventions
Medium term interventions are those which lay the groundwork for improving migration management
systems, but do not require significant overhaul of any existing institutions. These interventions could be
completed over the course of 2-5 years, as GoB sees fit, and include:

    a. Enhancing smartcard system
    b. Labor Market Information Survey


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    c. Assessment of existing agreements

Long Term Interventions
Long term interventions are those which will require significant work to align systems across borders and
may also require more groundwork in terms of building political capital. These interventions may require
several stages and significant advance planning for proper implementation.

    a. Transnational certification pilot
    b. Designing incentive systems to improve recruitment outcomes




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