Malaysia has agreed to open its labour recruitment process to all eligible Bangladeshi agencies under a new uniform selection system, a move expected to significantly widen opportunities for manpower exports from Bangladesh.
Until now, recruitment opportunities in Malaysia were often given to agencies from other countries, while only a limited number of Bangladeshi agencies were allowed to operate.
The current government, however, has repeatedly requested all legally licensed Bangladeshi recruitment agents be listed, ensuring parity with other worker-sending countries.
Following detailed discussions at the third Joint Working Group meeting held in Dhaka on 21-22 May 2025, the Malaysian delegation promised to establish selection criteria for private recruitment agents, aiming to provide the same opportunities to Bangladeshi agents as to agencies from other countries, and to notify Bangladesh accordingly.
On 28 October 2025, the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment received a formal communication from Malaysia outlining the “Recruiting Agent Selection Criteria”. In the future, recruitment agents from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Myanmar will be selected based on these uniform standards.
According to the criteria, eligible agencies must have a minimum of five years of satisfactory operational experience after obtaining a licence and provide proof of sending at least 3,000 workers abroad in the last five years.
Agencies must possess a Certificate of Good Conduct from the competent authority of the worker-sending country and have no record of forced labour recruitment, human trafficking, violation of labour laws, extortion, money laundering, or other financial crimes, nor involvement in unethical migration practices.
Furthermore, agencies are required to operate their own training and assessment centres with facilities for accommodation, technical training, and an induction module.
Each must hold satisfactory certificates from at least five separate international employers confirming successful management of migration processes and operate from a permanent office of at least 10,000 square feet for a minimum of three years, equipped to manage worker selection and recruitment activities.
Agencies must also provide proof of lawful and procedural compliance with recruitment processes in destination countries, including Malaysia, for previous worker deployments.
The Government of Bangladesh will now officially request the Malaysian authorities to enlist all local recruitment agencies that meet these conditions for sending workers to Malaysia without exception.
Accordingly, the ministry has invited all legally licensed Bangladeshi recruitment agencies capable of fulfilling the above specified criteria to submit their applications, along with the required documents, by 7 November 2025.
