Oman to legalise 96,000 Bangladeshi workers: minister

The Oman government has assured to legalise 96,000 illegal Bangladeshi workers, State Minister for Expatriates' Welfare, Overseas, and Employment Shofiqur Rahman Choudhury said today.

He said this while talking to journalists at his office in the capital's Eskaton.

The state minister recently visited Dubai, Oman, and Qatar to discuss the labour market issue.

He said 96,000 workers are living illegally in Oman.

"The Omani government has promised to legalise them. They will charge a penalty for their legalisation. We have requested the Omani government to waive the penalty," he said.

At the same time, the country has assured to take skilled workers from Bangladesh in 12 categories, the minister said.

"We discussed this. If skilled workers start going, unskilled workers will also start going. It will be arranged in phases," he added.

Regarding the labour market of the United Arab Emirates, the state minister said that a meeting has been held with Dubai business communities to expand and make the Dubai labour market more dynamic.

"The demand for 3,000 workers has already come from Dubai. Of these, 400 workers have left. 500 workers are waiting to leave," he added.

Meanwhile, the probe committee formed by the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment has been given five more working days to find out the reasons behind the large number of workers not being able to go to Malaysia.

So far, 3,000 workers have complained about not being able to go to Malaysia with the probe committee, Shofiqur said.

Noor Md Mahbubul Haq, additional secretary (employment wing) of the ministry, was made the chief of the five-member probe body.

The committee was given seven working days to submit its report and yesterday was the last working day of the investigation committee.

Asked about the progress of the probe body, the minister said, "We are taking reports from Malaysian immigration, 101 recruiting agencies, and Baira. The investigation committee sought some more time. So, we gave them another five working days. After Eid, we will sit with the report".

He said that they would take action as per the findings of the body.

"We want a transparent report to come out as we do not want any biased report. We are working so that they do not have to face such problems in the future," he added.

Mentionable, despite receiving BMET clearance, around 17,000 aspiring migrants failed to fly to Malaysia within the deadline of May 31 announced by the Malaysian government which created uncertainty among the workers.