Saudi-bound workers await resolution

Saudi Arabia-bound migrant workers at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport’s Expatriate Welfare Desk have been facing difficulties in accessing visa validity checks for the past two weeks due to restrictions imposed by the Saudi authorities on the necessary web link.

EWD officials, who have been voluntarily verifying visa validity for seven years, can now only assist 100-200 workers daily, down from 2,000, significantly impacting migrant workers’ travel arrangements.

Despite efforts to address the issue, including communication with the Bureau of Manpower, Employment, and Training, and receiving an internal link from the Labour Wing of the Consulate General of Bangladesh in Jeddah, the situation is not completely resolved.

Debabrata Ghosh, an assistant director of BMET at HSIA, noted that the internal link is not uninterrupted and expires within two to three minutes, requiring a new OTP to access it again.

“The airline authorities are now sending to us only those KSA-bound workers who either have no holiday documents or have their visas expired, not all of them,” he added.

The matter has been brought to the attention of State Minister for Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment and the Wage Earners Welfare Board for further action. Attempts to reach BMET Director General Saleh Ahmed Mujaffor for comment were unsuccessful.

LondonGBDESK//