Bangladesh became the ninth country along with China, Indonesia, Nepal, Myanmar, Philippines, Mongolia, Thailand and Vietnam to sign an agreement with Japan to send specified skilled worker (SSW) under two visa categories.
On Aug 27, Dhaka and Tokyo signed the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) on accepting these workers by Japan from Bangladesh.
The Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry of Bangladesh with the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Policy Agency of Japan signed the document at the Immigration Service Agency of Japans' Ministry of Justice in Tokyo.
The Japanese government will issue 361,400 visas in 14 work sectors, opening the doors wider to Bangladeshi workers.
Skilled workers under the following industries will be eligible to apply:
According to sources, the workers will be paid equal to or more than Japanese citizens and will receive their paychecks through the bank.
Under Japan labour a worker’s minimum wage is Tk 700 per hour and they are allowed to work up to eight hours a day.
Although some sectors limit working hours to 44 hours a week, a worker can still earn Tk 135,000 per week.
Specified Skill Visa Category-1:
The workers eligible for the 14 sectors will be issued 5-year visas under the Specialised Skill Visa category-1. The applicants seeking a visa under this country must clear a Japanese language test and skills test.
The applicants will not be allowed to bring their spouses or families and the visa can be renewed for a limited period of time. However, it will not be extended to convert the visa to category-2.
According to the Japanese immigration department, 47,550 visas will be issued in the first year while the rest will be issued over a period of five years.
Specified Skill Visa Category-2
To apply for a visa under category-2, a worker must have a category-1 visa. Applications for the category-2 visa will be open from 2021.
Only construction workers and shipping industry workers will be eligible to apply for this visa if they are able to acquire additional skills in their field.
Under this visa, the workers will be able to take their families to Japan and after 10 years might also be eligible for a permanent residence permit.
In 2017, the expatriates welfare and overseas employment ministry signed an agreement with International Manpower Development Organisation Japan.
Under the agreement, the Bangladesh government is sending technical interns who undergo a Technical Intern Training.
According to the Bureau of Employment and Training (BEMT), Bangladesh sent 163 people and the target for the current year is sending 400 interns, up until July only 119 have been able to go.
Prior to this training, the workers have to sit for a Japanese proficiency test. If they clear the test, International Manpower Development Organisation Japan provides a four-month training after which they are taken to Japan as technical interns.
These interns will also be able to apply for the specified skilled worker visa and will also be exempted from the language proficiency test.
BMET Language proficiency training centres:
The BMET is operating Japanese language learning course in 27 technical training centers (TTC) across the country. These include - Bangladesh Korea TTC (Mirpur), Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib Mahila TTC (Mirpur), Bangladesh Korea TTC (Chittagong), Khulna TTC, Rajshahi TTC, Rangpur TTC, Pabna TTC, Rangamati TTC, Bandar TTC, Bandar Tahiti, Bandar. , Nilphamari TTC, Jessore TTC, Dinajpur TTC, Madaripur TTC, Narsingdi TTC, Magura TTC, Moulvibazar TTC, Tea Tainawabganj TTC, Kushtia TTC, Brahmanbaria TTC, Joypurhat TTC, Gaibandha TTC, Jhenaidah TTC, Prasad Kalyan Bhavan (Dhaka), Jamalpur TTC, Netrokona TTC.
Moreover, four-month care-giver courses are also available at Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib TTC and Pabna TTC.
BEMT Deputy Director (training) Ilias Hossain Sarker told Bangla Tribune that the courses are not available at the TTCs at the same time and admission fee of Tk 1000 must be paid for four months.
“Since there is less demand, care-giver courses will are available at two TTCs but once the market is open we’ll expand the scope of the other TTCs.
According to ministry officials and people familiar with the matter since the language proficiency test is a prerequisite for the visa, the expatriates welfare ministry decided to include the private recruiting agencies to increase the scope of the training in February.
Several agencies have already applied and after scrutinising the application BEMT is sending them to the ministry which has already given 10-11 agencies final clearance.
A top ministry official said that there is no way to get work in Japan without language proficiency and including the private sector will widen the pool for skilled workers.
Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) chief Shamim Ahmed Chowdhury Noman said since Japan is recruiting specified skilled workers, the workers must be trained accordingly.
“Japan does not compromise with training and quality,” he said and added that the agencies must have proper training facilities.
“The ministry has issued a guideline and those agencies that follow it will be able to send workers,” Noman said.
He added that BAIRA has already started work for training centres which is likely to be completed within the next five to six months and was also mulling over working with the government TTCs on a public-private partnership basis.