The Chief Adviser’s Special Envoy on International Affairs, Lutfey Siddiqi, said on Monday the governments of Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates will continue to build goodwill and trust to make progress on the visa issue, as part of a ‘comprehensive refresh’ of the Bangladesh-UAE bilateral relationship, covering trade, investment and people.
Lutfey Siddiqi was accompanied by the Bangladesh’s Ambassador to UAE Tareq Ahmed and other colleagues from the embassy, says UNB. “I had a long, open and frank discussion with Major General Suhail Saeed Al Khaili, Director-General of the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Ports Security (ICP), UAE,” he said.
Bangladeshis have constituted the single-largest group of violators of visa/residency rules over here for over a decade he added. “I was told that over 25% of all violators here are Bangladeshis,” he said in a post from his verified Facebook account. The root causes of that probably lie at the recruitment stage, in the home country, creating a vicious cycle, said the special envoy.
The effective cost of migration appears to be higher than it is for other nationals, especially in comparison with the salary received.
“Over the years, our government has appeared non-serious in tackling root causes of criminal behaviour,” Siddiqi said. On the contrary, periods of relaxation of the visa regime have allegedly been met with more abuses of the rules, without any apparent deterrence from our government, he said.Improved UAE-Dhaka relations to curb visa overstays.
Furthermore, the UAE government announced a general amnesty period from July 1 to December 31, 2024, allowing undocumented workers to regularise their status or return to their home countries without penalties, but to no avail.
Apart from overstaying and supposedly failing to respond to last year’s amnesty in any meaningful way, it is also alleged that Bangladeshis produce way too many forged certificates—sometimes with official attestation.
“I separately spoke to a recruitment firm here who corroborated the above observations,” said the special envoy, adding that he has received anecdotal evidence of troubling conduct by middlemen since the partial opening of visas in March this year.Dhaka, UAE to strengthen ties, address visa overstaying issue.
Recruitment firms facilitate inbound migrant workers from multiple African and Asian countries.
The special envoy said they will also try to isolate various categories of cases (family/spousal visa, in-country transfer between employers, tourist visa, work permits for different skills levels, visa for seafarers, etc) to Dhaka, UAE to strengthen ties, address visa overstaying issue.
“In the meantime, all of us have to do better in clamping down on irregularities, including their root causes. They cast a long shadow,” he said.Dhaka, UAE work on closer ties and visa regulations.