Bangladeshi workers are suffering both in country and abroad in many ways. The foreign bound workers for Romania are the new edition of the sufferings. Those who want to go to Romania visa are matched but the permit is not available for them. Attestation of appointing authority is sought for clearance. But that authority does not agree to this verification. The validity of the visa is going away from such fluctuations. In this way, many Bangladeshi workers are losing the Romanian labor market.
Highlighting these issues, the Bangladeshi workers who want to go to Romania said that the government has made the verification of the appointment authority of Romania mandatory. Apart from this Bangladesh Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) does not issue clearance. Regarding this clearance, BMET said, there are allegations of workers moving from the Romanian labor market to other countries including Italy. Workers are not getting work there. The assurance of the worker's work is ensured through verification.
Quoting Romanian employers, workers said that very few workers from Bangladesh go to their labor market. It is not possible for them to verify this. Meanwhile, although the Romanian company gave confirmation, BMET is accused of collecting extra money for the worker's leave. The workers said that it costs Tk 4 thousand 800 to get the license of BMET. Now there is a cost of Tk 25 to 30 thousand for each clearance, which is not possible for many workers. Most of the workers are not able to go to Romania even after getting a visa.
When several officials of BMET were contacted to inquire about this, they did not respond. Shafiqur Rahaman Chowdhury, Minister of State for Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment, said that there will be an investigation into this matter. Talking to the workers who want to go to Romania and people involved in the visa process, it is known that more than 600 workers have received visas to go to Romania for about six months since last November. But very few workers were able to go.
On the condition of anonymity, a worker said "I have been sitting with the visa for four months. But I don't know when I can go to Romania. I have been waiting for this visa for three years. Now I have read the complexity of verification. The visa is only valid for seven months. BMET is saying that they will not give me clearance without the confirmation of the company. An organization named CPC Bangla has been working on Romanian visas for a long time. Mobarak Bappi, the owner of this institution said "According to the government rules, BMET is licensed according to the needs of the workers. That means BMET should be licensed only if there is a proof of need of the worker. They said that they will not give permission without the company's verification. Now if the company is attested, the owner has to go to the consulate office and do the attestation. A company owner may not want to go to the consulate section for an employee to do this verification. BMET is not confirming it.
He said, 'BMET's license cost is Tk 4 thousand 800. At that place, BMET officials took Tk 25 to 30 thousand to give this clearance. So where is the remaining money except Tk 4 thousand 800? Those who can pay Tk 25 to 30 thousand, they get it but those who only willing to pay Tk4 thousand 800, are not able to do so. This is how the workers' clearance is hanging.'
Shafiqur Rahaman Chowdhury, Minister of State for Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment, said that no written complaint has been received in this regard. He said, "No one has given us any written complaint in this regard. We are not aware of this. If someone gives a written complaint, we will investigate it. But since the matter has been raised, I will investigate on my own. According to BMET sources, workers started to go to the labor market in Romania from 2020. This labor market has become the preferred market for Bangladeshi workers because of easy visa and work opportunities. More than 35,000 workers have gone to Romania in the last four years. However, there is no permanent visa center for Romania in Bangladesh. Bangladeshi workers have to complete all visa-related work at the Romanian Embassy in New Delhi, the capital of India.
According to BMET information, a six-member delegation from Romania arrived in Dhaka in February 2023. They opened a temporary visa consulate on the eighth floor of BMET's office in Kakrail. At that time, the delegation announced that they would give visas to 15,000 workers within six months. But after two-and-a-half-three months, there were allegations of taking unethical benefits against BMET officials and recruiting agencies. There are even allegations of intimidation of the Romanian delegation. Due to these reasons, the delegation closed the office and returned to the embassy in Delhi in May last year.
It is alleged that most of the Bangladeshi workers migrated to Italy from Romania. In this case, a broker class works. They apply for recruitment through small companies. After that, when the workers arrived in Romania, an agreement was made to send them to Italy. Many people take contracts from the country.
Bangladeshi activist Raihan Chowdhury has been in Romania for a long time. He said "Most of the workers who go to Romania have Italy as their goal. This situation is due to the greed of unscrupulous recruiting agencies for higher income. Workers are migrating to Italy and neighboring countries through these brokers. The brokers make contracts for Tk 10 to 12 lakh while staying in the country.
The officials of the Bangladeshi embassy in Romania said that entry to Italy has been tightened. Currently the Romanian government has imposed strict measures on the escape of workers. No one can easily go to Italy even if they want to.
Shafiqur Rahman Chowdhury, Minister of State for Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment, said that awareness is being created through training. He said, "These are personal matters of each one. We tell them, stay in the country where you have permission. Do not move from there to any other country. But it still goes away. We provide three days training to all staff before going abroad. These are explained in that training. Immigration expert Asif Munir said that such problems are being created because there is no agreement or memorandum of understanding with Romania. He said, "Romania's labor market is a little different from our other labor markets. We have no agreement or memorandum of understanding with Romania on labor migration. Everyone needs a place of awareness here. We need to negotiate with Romania to create a place for our workers to go regularly.
ZH
