It is shocking to know that despite the government's efforts to fix the cost of getting a migrant worker visa, brokers are still exploiting workers, extracting huge sums. A TIB study has found that as much as 90 percent of five lakh male migrant workers have had to pay two to three times the usual migration cost last year. This was for work visas in seven countries that included five in the Middle East.For instance, workers had to pay between five and 12 lakh taka each for getting a Saudi visa. The government's fixed rate is 1.65 lakh taka. 

While recruiting agents take extra sums from workers in the name of health tests and immigration clearance there is graft at many other stages of the application process including at the expatriate welfare ministry. Applicants in fact have to go through 24 to 27 stages to get visas, immigration clearance and smart cards. A one stop service centre, the report recommends, could simplify the process.

We cannot emphasise enough the urgency of good governance of the entire migration sector. As a country, we benefit hugely from the remittances sent by our migrant workers who tirelessly toil at their jobs to send money home. But often the unnecessarily high cost of getting a work visa means that many migrant workers have to carry a huge burden of debt and which has to be paid back, leaving very little for them to save or send back home. 

The brokers, officials concerned and recruiting agents must be held accountable through a legal framework. The Anti Corruption Commission should take up this case and investigate this illegal visa trade that goes against national interest.