Though the government has fixed the expenses to go to 16 countries for work, in reality, the cost is far higher. Several research organisations have said that a large portion of the expenses actually go to the middle men. Specialists feel that to bring down the cost, middle men need to be controlled. UN’s migration related body, International Organisation for Migration, IOM, says that for male migrant workers, the expense is Tk. 7 lakh while for women it’s Tk. 95,000, whereas the salary of migration seekers is limited between Tk. 25000 and Tk. 1 lakh.
The problem stems from the fact that many rely on middlemen instead of recruiting agencies. Meanwhile, Refugee and Migratory Movement Research Unit, RAMRU, says, in the last three years, migration cost has fallen by ten per cent.
Between 2014 and 2017, the migration cost from Bangladesh to middle-east and south-east Asian states has fallen; men who went abroad had to spend Tk. 3 lakh 82 thousand on average.
The government stipulated migration cost for different countries include: Tk. 2 lakh 60 thousand or Singapore (with training), Tk. 1 lakh 65 thousand for Saudi Arabia, Tk. 1 lakh 60 thousand for Malaysia, Tk. 1 lakh 45 thousand for Libya, Tk. 97000 for Bahrain, Tk. 1 lakh 7 thousand for UAE, Tk. 1 lakh 6 thousand for Kuwait and Tk. 1 lakh 29 thousand for Iraq. Most costs are below Tk. 1 lakh fifty thousand.
However, after talking to returnee workers it’s found that, the total cost of going to Saudi Arabia is between Tk. 5 and Tk. 9 lakh while for Malaysia it’s Tk. 3.5 lakh.
DG of labour manpower training bureau, Selim Reza, says: “we are sending workers to Japan without any cost and to Korea and Jordan at low expense.”
Unless the middlemen are controlled, the expenses cannot be brought down, he added.
Head of BRAC migration programme, Shariful Hassan, feels that cost can be brought down if middlemen are taken off the equation.
“To reduce cost, a proper system has to be set up and skilled workers need to be made.”
Migration development programme chairman, Shakirul Islam, told Bangla Tribune: “migration cost has to be brought down to zero because the government in 2011 promised to bring down the expenses to zero.”