Migration to Malaysia to cost less than Tk1 lakh, recruitment starts in January

Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmed Tuesday suggested not to give any money to the middlemen to go to Malaysia as the recruiting process has not started yet

The process of sending workers is expected to start from January next.

He also informed that Malaysia would send demand letters on which sector they would recruit Bangladeshi workers.

The minister expressed his hope the migration cost to Malaysia would be less than Tk1 lakh as the workers will not have to pay for the air tickets this time. 

Minister Imran was addressing a press briefing held on his recent visit to Malaysia at the ministry. After a hiatus of over three years, Malaysia has officially reopened its labour market to Bangladeshi workers for five years until December 2026.

All registered recruiting agencies will be allowed to send workers in the country as there would be no syndication of recruiters like previous time, Imran Ahmed informed journalists.

Both countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Sunday to recruit workers from Bangladesh as the Malaysian market was closed since September 2018.

"The employer will bear all the expenses of the worker including roundtrip air tickets at the Malaysian end. The worker will have to spend only for his passport, visa, BMET fee, wage earners' welfare board membership fee, medical fee and service charge of the recruiting agency," said the minister.

The minister also assured of reducing the previous amount of migration cost significantly which was fixed at Tk 1.60 lakh as the agencies of both the countries would work in this process.  

He suggested not to give any money to the middlemen as the process of sending workers has not started yet.

"Still there are some technical issues pending for discussion," he said.

Malaysia suspended hiring Bangladeshi workers in September 2018 over allegations of malpractice in the recruitment process and high recruitment costs.

To meet the growing demand of workers following the Covid-19 pandemic, the Southeast Asian country has started hiring workers from potential countries, and as part of the move, the Malaysian cabinet on 10 December decided to resume the recruitment of Bangladeshi workers.