The United Arab Emirates will start recruiting Bangladeshi domestic workers within next three months, Expatriates' Welfare Minister Nurul Islam said today.

"We have signed an MoU on April 18 in this regard. A joint committee will be formed and it will finalise all the terms and conditions soon. We hope to begin the recruitment within three months," he told journalists during a press briefing at his secretariat office in Dhaka.

The categories include labourer, sailor, watchman, shepherd, falconer, housekeeper, cook, nanny, farmer, gardener, private trainer, private tutor, farm supervisor and private driver.

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Under the MoU, only the private sponsors will be able to recruit the workers, said Namita Halder, secretary of the ministry, said at the press briefing.

“Eventually, the big companies will recruit workers from Bangladesh,” she said.

However, the limitations in accessing full labour market are that at least 1000 Bangladeshis in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) remain in the jails for various crimes.

“Among them, 56 are accused of committing murders and 14 of them are facing death sentences,” the secretary said at a press conference at the ministry in Dhaka following her visit to the UAE last week.