UAE Visit Visas: Only ‘real’ tourists to fly

Twenty-year-old Md Bijoy has already paid Tk 2 lakh for taking a cleaner's job in Dubai and has even got a visa to the Gulf emirate.

All he is waiting for now is to buy an air ticket, for which he is saving up. The ticket will cost him Tk 70,000, and he is finding it difficult to gather the money.

"I got a three-month tourist visa. Once I go there, I will be given a work visa. My local agent Kalam has made all the arrangements," said Bijoy, son of a tea stall owner.

But there's a snag. According to letter issued by the immigration police of Bangladesh on September 22, holders of tourist visas intending to work in the UAE will not be able to go past immigration. The decision came into force that day.

"Bangladeshis coming to the departure terminal trying to go to Dubai for work on a visit visa will not be cleared through immigration," said the letter signed by Saleh Muhammad Zakaria, assistant superintendent of police (immigration) at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

The letter was issued in line with an order by the additional inspector general of police (Special Branch).

"Only the real tourists, business people, civil servants, parliamentarians, ministers, politicians, and job holders will have their immigration formalities processed," it said.

In other words, holders of UAE visit visas showing up at the departure terminal will have to undergo profiling.

Sources in the police said this directive was issued to curb the abuse of the UAE visit visa by traffickers and manpower recruiting agencies.

However, law enforcement agencies have expressed concern that the directive may have just created a scope for the airport authorities to extort migrant workers.

"The immigration formalities of those who had been to Dubai for work or have residency permits may be processed," read the letter.

Those willing to travel on legal residency visas and work permits can pass through immigration without any obstacles, it added.

The new directive came as a surprise for Bijoy who had no idea that he won't be allowed to fly to Dubai for work on a tourist visa.

"I've already spent Tk 2 lakh taking loans from various sources. I will now pay for the air ticket and hope I can pass through the airport immigration," he said.

Dubai stopped issuing work permits for Bangladeshi workers in 2015. But that did not stem the tide of workers heading to the glitzy emirate for work.

Employers in the Gulf state bring migrant workers under tourist visa which is later converted to work visas, said industry insiders.

Should a worker find an employment, he can pay 2,000 dirham (about Tk 50,000) to get his tourist visa converted to a work permit.

According to the Special Branch statistics, around 3.17 lakh people left the country for Dubai on tourist visas from October 2019 to March this year.

Of them, only about 22,000 returned home. The rest either converted their tourist visas into work visas or were trafficked to other countries.

Dubai is used as a transit point of major labour trafficking routes, mainly to countries with which Bangladesh does not have any agreement regarding migrant workers.

It is evident in many Facebook groups of Dubai-based migrant workers that the UAE work visa is synonymous with tourist visa and people face little or no trouble in getting past immigration at Dhaka airport.

Facebook groups are rife with posts by travel agencies offering packages under the headlines: "Visit visa, ticket, insurance, airport support" or "Dubai visit visa 3-month and 1-month full package".

Gulshan-based travel agency Dhaka Trip's Hossain Faruk explained what "airport support" means.

"The airport authorities create some obstacles to letting people fly on tourist visas, so we arrange help for them at the airport," said Faruk. The "full package" costs Tk 125,000.

Asked whether the "airport support" can be purchased separately, he replied in the negative. "It is managed with support from friends and relatives at the airport. This is not a service we sell commercially," he said.

Munirus Saleheen, secretary of the expatriates welfare ministry, yesterday said they were aware of how the migrant workers abuse tourist visa to go to Dubai for work.

"We also want to encourage workers seeking employment in Dubai. To address this problem, there will be a meeting of the ministers concerned by the end of this month. The meeting may make some decisions in this regard."

A high official of Special Brach of police told this newspaper that they found a huge number of people were trafficked to other countries after they reached Dubai on visit visa.

"We have imposed the ban to stop this practice and bar human traffickers from having this scope," said the official, requesting anonymity.