State-owned recruiting agency BOESL revised migration cost

The state-owned recruiting agency Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Limited (BOESL) has revised the migration cost after nearly six years.

Noor Ahmed, deputy general manager (Admin, HR, Finance), BOESL told The Business Standard that the fees have been revised for nine countries and came into effect from late November following a board meeting.

The revised costs cover — Kuwait, Jordan, Seychelles, Croatia, Mauritius, Bulgaria, Australia, Fiji and Russia.

The revised costs are Tk52,850 and Tk41,250 respectively for the categories of professionals and skilled workers for Kuwait, Seychelles, Australia, Fiji and Russia.

Earlier, the recruitment fee was Tk87,340 for professionals and Tk52,740 for each skilled worker.

However, the cost rose to Tk41,250 from Tk38,940 for skilled workers heading to Mauritius and Croatia.

On the other hand, labour councillors going to Jordan will pay Tk30,000 from the previous Tk87,340.

At the time the cost of Bulgaria-bound (skilled) garment workers was reset at Tk52,850 from Tk52,740. The costs include service fees, welfare fees for salaried workers, pre-exit fees, training fees, insurance and smart card fees.

Travel costs are mostly borne by employers. However, rates remained unchanged for garment workers heading to Jordan and Romania.

Domestic workers in Hong Kong and workers going to South Korea under the work permit system also remained unchanged.

The recruitment fee was last adjusted by BOESL in 2016.