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Visa suspension for Bangladeshis
Oman's decision is due to misuse of visas
Bangladesh Ambassador Nazmul Islam is scheduled to discuss the matter with the Omani authorities on Thursday.Raheed Ejaz
Dhaka
Published: 01 November 2023, 21: 00
Visa suspension for Bangladeshis
Oman's decision is due to misuse of visas
Bangladesh Ambassador Nazmul Islam is scheduled to discuss the matter with the Omani authorities on Thursday.Raheed Ejaz
Dhaka
Published: 01 November 2023, 21: 00
Oman will be asked to reconsider the decisionPhoto: AFP
At least three lakh Bangladeshi workers have gone to the Middle Eastern country of Oman in the last two years. However, the situation of employment of foreign workers in the country is not so good. Bangladeshis who spent several lakhs of rupees are not getting proper work. The workers who have spent huge amounts of money are doing illegal work. Therefore, Oman has suspended the issuing of all types of visas for Bangladeshis to prevent misuse of visas.
According to diplomatic sources, these things were known yesterday from Oman. The Royal Oman Police (ROP) has stopped issuing visas to Bangladeshis since last Tuesday. However, the reason for this decision was not given until yesterday. Bangladesh Ambassador to Oman Nazmul Islam is scheduled to discuss the issue with the country's authorities on Thursday.
When asked, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told Prothom Alo yesterday, 'The human traffickers are abusing the opportunity that was available to take people to Oman. As a result, Oman may have decided to suspend the visa. Oman will be requested to reconsider the decision, taking into account that Bangladeshi workers have been working in the country for a long time. Necessary instructions have been given to the ambassador in this regard.'
Oman will be asked to reconsider the decisionPhoto: AFP
At least three lakh Bangladeshi workers have gone to the Middle Eastern country of Oman in the last two years. However, the situation of employment of foreign workers in the country is not so good. Bangladeshis who spent several lakhs of rupees are not getting proper work. The workers who have spent huge amounts of money are doing illegal work. Therefore, Oman has suspended the issuing of all types of visas for Bangladeshis to prevent misuse of visas.
According to diplomatic sources, these things were known yesterday from Oman. The Royal Oman Police (ROP) has stopped issuing visas to Bangladeshis since last Tuesday. However, the reason for this decision was not given until yesterday. Bangladesh Ambassador to Oman Nazmul Islam is scheduled to discuss the issue with the country's authorities on Thursday.
When asked, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told Prothom Alo yesterday, 'The human traffickers are abusing the opportunity that was available to take people to Oman. As a result, Oman may have decided to suspend the visa. Oman will be requested to reconsider the decision, taking into account that Bangladeshi workers have been working in the country for a long time. Necessary instructions have been given to the ambassador in this regard.'
A Royal Oman Police statement said the 'visa conversion' process has been suspended for foreigners who have already entered Oman on tourist and travel visas. Earlier, expatriates could go to Oman on tourism and travel visas and obtain visas as workers. As the 'Visa Change' program has been suspended, those who want to get visa as workers will have to return to their home country and go to Oman with a work visa. However, this opportunity is not available for Bangladeshis. Because all visas for Bangladeshis are suspended until further notice.
According to the sources of the Bangladesh Embassy in Oman, at least 100,000 Bangladeshis have gone to Oman in 10 months of this year. At the moment, the number of workers from different countries in Oman is about 2 million. Among which Bangladeshi workers are the highest, about eight lakhs.
AK Abdul Momen, Foreign Minister
Asked about the misuse of visas, a source from Oman, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Omani authorities had recently allowed five foreign workers for every youth. A class of human traffickers are abusing this opportunity. Bangladeshi people are being taken to Oman without checking whether they have jobs or not. After that those people are not getting the promised work there, they are not getting any work anywhere. As a result, they are doing all the work on the roads, which is not legal according to the current laws of the country. Some are forced to engage in immoral activities. All in all, such activities of Bangladeshis have displeased the Omani authorities.
When attention was drawn to human trafficking, another source said, for some time, the arrest of Bangladeshis who were caught by human traffickers from the United Arab Emirates on the coast of Oman was being unofficially said. Oman has started raising the issue officially with Bangladesh for a few months.
It is known that oil is transported from Iran to the UAE in small trawlers. On the way back to Iran, those trawlers transport various goods. People are picked up on trawlers by human traffickers who promise to take them to Europe. Over the past few months, Oman's Coast Guard has stepped up surveillance of those trawlers. As a result, trawlers plying in Iran and the United Arab Emirates are being raided and rescued at regular intervals. Among these rescued people, the number of citizens of Bangladesh is significant.
Oman's recent initiative to suspend visas to Bangladeshi nationals for visa abuse, a source in Oman insists, has not officially explained the reasons.
However, experts believe that if an important labor market like Oman is closed, it will gradually affect expatriate income. Zahid Hossain, the former chief economist of World Bank's Dhaka office, told Prothom Alo yesterday, 'If the new workers cannot go, the old ones will send the expatriate income. If new workers go, the possibility of sending additional expatriate income will be closed.
