Photo : Collected
Difficulties in obtaining visas could halt the export of Bangladeshi manpower to Europe's biggest labour market, Italy. It takes six months to a year to get a visa. Meanwhile, the passports of 20,000 Bangladeshis are stuck at the Italian embassy in Dhaka. The work permits of many, who spent Tk 10-12 lakh to obtain it, has also expired. This labour market is at risk of closing for Bangladeshis if legal workers cannot be sent on time.
Bangladeshis have the highest tendency to go to the country illegally only due to visa complications or uncertainty of getting a visa. There have been incidents of boat capsizing and drowning while crossing the Mediterranean Sea from Libya to go to Italy.
Experts say that this is happening again and again due to the foreign and expatriate ministries not playing a sufficient role in this matter. They have advised the parties concerned to be more proactive to save this European market.
According to related sources, Italy is the largest labour market in Europe for Bangladeshi workers. The country's government halted the recruitment of Bangladeshi workers for eight consecutive years from 2012 to 2020 due to illegal immigration, buying and selling of work visas, and corruption. In 2021, the labour market reopened in full swing. According to the data of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, in 2023, about 16,500 Bangladeshi workers got employment opportunities in the country. In the month of April 2024, only 284 people went there.
Sources said that a total of 30,850 workers from Bangladesh in the agriculture, fisheries, road transport, construction, tourism, and restaurant sectors were supposed to be employed. Of them, 18,000 are seasonal workers. After the local administration's verification process, work permits were issued for those workers, but there were complaints that passports were being held for six months to a year for issuing visas. Due to this, visa applicants from different districts of the country are waiting and going to the VFS Visa Centre in Dhaka’s Gulshan months after months. Even after spending Tk 12-15 lakh, the work permit is expiring due to passport complications.
Complaints have also been raised about the services of VFS Global, which handles the Italian visa process in Bangladesh. There is no place to even sit for the visa aspirants in the office, even though they charge Tk 19,720-22,000 per person for visa processing.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) Joint Secretary General Fakhrul Islam fears that the labour market will be adversely affected if the selected workers fail to join the workplace on time. “We have to save this European market at any cost. For this, the government needs to be more proactive. If the market is closed, there will be an even greater trend of illegally entering the country than now. This will tarnish the country's image and even increase the number of deaths due to illegal routes.”
Meanwhile, State Minister for Expatriates’ Welfare Shafiqur Rahman Chowdhury said that concerns about the matter have been reported to the Italian embassy in Dhaka. “We hope the embassy will give importance to the matter.”
Italy's immigration law stipulates visa issuance within three months of submission of applicants' passports if documents are in order. So why is it taking so long? Antonio Alessandro, the ambassador of Italy to Bangladesh, told the media that 20 per cent of the work permit applications submitted to the embassy are fake and that is why it is taking time. He said, “Brokers say that you can get work permit illegally. A corrupt system is controlling work permits, which the Italian government is determined to end.”
Coordinator of the Centre for Migration Studies at North South University Mohammad Jalal Uddin Sikder said that the syndicate has been formed to control the labour market and migrants are being exploited. “Several countries have suspended the recruitment of workers from Bangladesh due to various reasons, including submission of fake documents, irregularity in recruitment, and extra cost of immigration. In some of the countries that are open, manpower exports are also decreasing. The matter needs to be supervised by the government’s high levels.”
Daffodil International University’s Head of Department of Law Kudrat-E-Khuda Babu said it is a matter of great concern that brokers are cheating Bangladeshi migrants even with the big labour markets in Europe. He said the Italian prime minister had spoken about this. “Malaysia's labour market was closed for such reasons. The relevant authorities should be careful so that the Italian market is not closed.”
On June 4, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni complained about the buying and selling of Italian work visas and corruption in Bangladesh. There are about 1,45,000 registered Bangladeshi workers in Italy and two lakh unregistered workers.
Messenger/Fameema
