When a loved one dies abroad, families face not only the grief of losing someone but also the uncertainty of bringing the body home. Legal complications, delays in recovering unpaid wages from employers and dissatisfaction with procedures at embassies and government offices often leave relatives struggling with a maze of difficulties while mourning their loss.
Some families have to spend several lakh takas to repatriate a body, while others wait for weeks or even months for the process to be completed. In many cases, fellow Bangladeshis living abroad step in, raising funds to cover transportation and other associated costs.
The family of Mofazzal Hossain, who died in Saudi Arabia, spent around 17,000 Saudi riyals on various formalities, including hiring a lawyer, to bring his body home. The repatriation of Mokhlesur Rahman, who died in Kuwait, remains stalled because his employer has yet to pay his outstanding dues.
Meanwhile, accounts from Bangladeshis living in Italy and Qatar show that expatriates often have to raise money among themselves to send the bodies of deceased compatriots home.
Mofazzal died on 28 January 2024. His son, Habibur Rahman Insan, said the family had to handle every aspect of bringing his father’s body back to Bangladesh, including hiring a lawyer. Despite applying for financial or institutional assistance from the government and other organisations, they received no response.
Habibur said they had approached the Wage Earners’ Welfare Board hoping for assistance, but were told that repatriating the body was the responsibility of the embassy.
Even after waiting for a long time, the family received no clear response from the government.
“After running from one office to another and seeing the delays, we gave up hope of receiving financial or other assistance from the government. Later, with help from a friend living in Saudi Arabia, we hired a lawyer there to handle the paperwork,” he said.
The family spent around Tk5 lakh at the exchange rate prevailing at the time, placing it under considerable financial pressure from which it has yet to recover.
Habibur said workers earn money abroad through hard work, but when they fail to receive the necessary assistance in an emergency, they have to depend on relatives and friends.
“Bangladeshis never receive the kind of support they expect from the embassy,” he said.
Mokhlesur Rahman, from Naogaon Sadar upazila, died in Kuwait on 23 September. His son-in-law, Mishuk Pramanik, contacted the Expatriates’ Welfare Ministry’s helpline the following day to apply for the repatriation of the body. The embassy contacted him 20 days later.
Speaking to TIMES after visiting the Expatriates’ Welfare Building and talking to officials, Mishuk said the process had stalled because Mokhlesur’s employer had not paid his outstanding dues.
According to Mishuk, the company was refusing to settle the dues, while the family had yet to see the embassy take a firm position on the matter.
Mishuk travelled from Naogaon to Dhaka several times to seek updates on the process, but returned disappointed each time.
Mokhlesur was registered with the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET). He went to Kuwait around 2015 and worked as a chef at a restaurant there.
Mishuk also alleged discrepancies in the management of information during the repatriation process. He claimed officials had repeatedly called another person’s number instead of contacting the family. Mishuk had provided his own phone number when submitting the application.
He suspects his number may have been linked to the records of another deceased person.
Mohammad Milon, a Bangladeshi expatriate in Qatar, said various complications had arisen several years ago when efforts were made to send the body of a Bangladeshi man named Karim home.
“The Wage Earners’ Welfare Board and the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare do not take full responsibility for repatriating the bodies of workers whose visas have expired or who have become undocumented migrants.
I had heard that the Wage Earners’ Welfare Board provides a small amount of financial assistance, but I had also learned that obtaining it involves difficulties and lengthy procedures,” he went on.
According to Milon, relatives have to contact different government offices to receive assistance. However, waiting a long time to send a body home is difficult for grieving families. As a result, expatriates often raise funds themselves to arrange repatriation, while relatives at home also try to cover the costs by sending money.
Abdul Roni, a Bangladeshi expatriate in Italy, also said that bringing a body home requires a substantial amount of money. Although assistance may be available through embassies or the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare, obtaining it involves a lengthy administrative process.
Speaking to TIMES, he said, “The embassy should be more sensitive.
But its procedures take too long, and there is also a great deal of indifference.”
According to Roni, arranging the repatriation of a body through personal fundraising can take around a week. By contrast, the formal process through an embassy can take 15 days to a month or even longer.
As a result, many families seek help from local Bangladeshi communities to bring the bodies home more quickly.
Roni said that in Italy, funds are collected at different mosques and expatriates help one another to arrange the repatriation of deceased colleagues. In some cases, however, depending on the circumstances and financial capacity, arrangements have to be made for burial locally.
The situation becomes even more complicated when undocumented or irregularly staying Bangladeshis die abroad. The absence of valid papers makes it difficult for their relatives to complete the necessary legal and administrative procedures.
What govt assistance is available?
Mohammad Zakir Hossain, deputy secretary at the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare, told TIMES, “If a worker who has legally gone abroad with clearance from the BMET dies at their workplace, the government bears the cost of bringing the body home. In addition, the deceased worker’s family receives Tk3 lakh in financial compensation from the Wage Earners’ Welfare Board.”
However, these benefits are not available to those who travel abroad without BMET clearance. Even so, in cases of extreme hardship, the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare sometimes provides financial assistance following an application from the family, he said.
Asked about the delays reported by affected families, Zakir said: “The process of bringing bodies home from abroad generally depends on the embassy.”
Efforts to contact Delwar Hossain, Bangladesh’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, were unsuccessful.
An official of the Wage Earners’ Welfare Board said 4,048 bodies of expatriate Bangladeshis had been brought home between January and 26 October this year. Nearly 1,000 of them came from Saudi Arabia.
