United News of Bangladesh

Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Ariful Haque Choudhury on Sunday told Parliament that more than 1.5 crore expatriate Bangladeshis are now working  in 176 foreign countries across the world. “Currently, more than 15 million Bangladeshis are working in 176 countries around the world,” he said while responding to a tabled question from Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker Md Amir Hamza (Kushtia-3). The minister said the current government is committed to ensuring the dignity, rights and welfare of all these expatriate Bangladeshis. During the previous fascist government, the welfare of the expatriates was grossly neglected, he said. “After the current government took office, various steps have been taken and implemented for their welfare,” he added. Focusing on the steps taken by the present government, he said the Wage Earners Welfare Board allocates funds annually through 30 labour welfare wings of Bangladeshi missions stationed in 27 countries to provide administrative, legal and welfare services. Legal services are being provided through legal assistants to expatriate workers and to recover death compensation for Bangladeshis who die abroad. To ensure these services, 11 mission labor welfare law firms/panel lawyers have already been initially appointed, he said. The other steps include arranging travel clearance for workers facing passport related complications to return home; providing legal support to detained workers and facilitating their release; resolving workplace disputes to ensure payment of dues and rights; and addressing housing-related problems of expatriate workers. The government has taken further steps, including ensuring immediate rescue and repatriation of female workers in danger, establishing safe homes under embassies and high commissions for women workers, regularly visiting hospitals to ensure proper treatment of sick and injured workers, repatriating bodies of deceased workers with finance from the wage earner welfare board, covering medical costs when employers fail and providing support through a 24/7 expatriate call centre in case of facing any problem. In reply to another tabled question from treasury bench lawmaker Shafiqur Rahman Kiron (Shariatpur-2), the Expatriates’ Welfare Minister said the ongoing war in the Middle East hampers manpower exports from Bangladesh to several Middle East countries. “Due to the current Iran and Israel-US ongoing war, sending workers to several labour markets in the Middle East, including the United Arab Emirates, is being hampered,” he said. The minister said the current government's election manifesto includes various plans for the welfare and employment of expatriates. “The Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment is working to implement the government's election manifesto. A 180-day action plan has already been formulated,” he said. He said it is not possible for the government alone to carry out the process of migration of manpower or workers abroad. In view of this, as part of the involvement of the private sector in this process, licenses are issued in favor of private recruiting agencies. In case of sending workers at the private level, it is mandatory to obtain a clearance from the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), a department under this ministry, he said. Ariful Haque said the government has taken steps to expand the labour market and increase manpower export to developed countries in Asia, including Dubai. Highlighting the steps, he said diplomatic discussions are ongoing with countries with closed/shrunk labour markets for Bangladeshi workers to send workers to Malaysia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. He said Bangladesh is sending workers to various countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Romania, Seychelles, Portugal, Russia, among others, which are among the major labour markets of Bangladesh. Memorandums of Understanding/Agreements have been signed with 18 countries regarding the sending of workers from Bangladesh, he added. Under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the BMET and the International Manpower Development Organization, Japan (IM Japan), workers are being sent to Japan as technical interns without immigration costs, he further said. According to an agreement signed between the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment and Japan, emphasis has been placed on Japanese language education with the aim of sending 100,000 (one) workers in the next five years, and a separate cell called "Japan Cell" has been formed in this ministry with the aim of sending more workers, said the Minister. He said the government has undertaken a project titled "Providing Driving Training for Employment in the Country and Abroad" to train 100,000 drivers, which is successfully underway. The minister said 1,132,519 workers were employed abroad in 2025. Of them, 62,352 are female workers.  

Grief has engulfed the Sylhet house Abu Saleh Md Yusuf Jhony who was gunned down in New York’s Buffalo city on April 27. Another Bangladeshi named Babul Uddin, hailed from Cumilla, was also shot dead by gunmen at the same time. Yusuf's family was shattered upon receiving the death news. Yusuf, son of Nurul Haque, a former member of Tinchati village under Kanaighat Jhingabari Union, moved to the US 10 months back with his wife and two daughters for permanent residency. He used to work for a painting company there and his family members have been living in Majortila area of Sylhet city. Read more: Tipu-Prity murder: AL leader Ashraf, 32 others indicted His parents got fainted several times after hearing the news of the tragic death of Yusuf, the eldest among three brothers and one sister. According to Bangladeshi expatriates living in Buffalo city of New York, Yusuf and Babul Uddin were working as painters in a house in 100 blocks on Jenner Street in Buffalo. At that time, some miscreants demanded extortion from Babul Uddin. Being rejected, when the terrorists attempt to attack Babul, Yusuf came forward to save him. At that time, the gunmen shot and killed the duo. Buffalo police spokesman Michael J. De George said they responded to a report of shots fired in the 100 Block on Jenner Street, according to reports of local media. The expatriates said that they will take various protest programmes demanding justice for the killing of two Bangladeshis. Read more: Momen slams Bangladeshi expat's killing in US, denounces hate crime

Referring to the killing of a Bangladeshi in the US, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Friday said Bangladesh does not want any hate crime anywhere in the world. “The Bangladeshi community there (US) are alleging it to be a hate crime,” Momen told reporters about the death of a Bangladeshi expatriate after being shot by the police at Cambridge in Massachusetts of the US on Thursday. Read more: The recommendations some foreigners at times give seem to be “idiotic”: Momen Earlier, he inaugurated the three-day "Peace Run Bangladesh" by lighting the peace torch at the Suhrawardy Udyan premises in the capital on Friday. “We want to stop racism, communal violence and establish peace in the world,” Momen said. Regarding the Bangladesh visit of US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu, Momen said it is very good news that he is coming. "He is like a policymaker in this area. We welcome him.” Donald Lu became Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs on September 15, 2021. “We’ve a very good relationship with the US. We have multifaceted engagements with the US. There will be talks on different issues when he (Donald Lu) comes.” He also hoped Donald Lu’s visit will help strengthen the good relationship between the two countries. Read more: Govt to honour expats through National Expatriate Day: Momen Replying to a question from the reporters on the US sanctions on Rab, the minister said bilateral relation is not determined by a single issue. “The US is our biggest consumer and our biggest investor. With engagements on many areas, we don't have to worry about just one issue. We both have common values and principles.” He said the US wants a democratic system and Bangladesh also wants a democratic system. “The US wants to uphold human rights. We want, too. Three million people of Bangladesh have sacrificed their lives for human rights, justice and democracy,” he added. “We will talk about many things. It is open. Many issues will be discussed," he said.

The life sketch of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman will be screened at Times Square, New York on August 15 and 16. Bangabandhu’s digital portrait will also be screened for 720 times at the place, a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment center, and neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue. Read:Who had planned Bangabandhu family's murder and why? questions Hasina

The monthly inflow of remittances hit an all-time high in April ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, reaching $2.067 billion. Expatriate Bangladeshis sent $1.91 billion in remittances in March; which rose 8.19% in April, according to the Bangladesh Bank. Read bKash offers 1 pc cash bonus on receiving remittance Expatriates sent $2.06 billion in remittance in April, up 89.17% year-on-year from the same period of last year. Remittance inflow usually increases ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha, as the expatriates send a big chunk of foreign currencies to the country ahead of two major religious festivals of the Muslims, experts said. Read BB further simplifies outward remittance rules for industrialists Although the pandemic has slowed down the global economy, remittance inflow grew 39% to $20.67 billion in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year, compared to the same period of the last fiscal. The remittance earnings have begun an upward march amid the Covid-19 pandemic as the government and the central bank took several initiatives to boost it; the migrant workers have already become used to the legal channels and are enjoying the 2% cash incentive, experts said. Read Remittances: First 6 months of fiscal sees over 37 percent growth

After a long and agonizing wait, the parents of Bangladeshi expatriate youth Mohammad Rayhan Kabir, who caused a stir in Malaysia by speaking out on a crackdown on undocumented immigrants in an Al Jazeera documentary, finally received their son with tears of joy on Saturday.