Iraq Labour Market Temporarily Suspended

• Thousands of workers left stranded
• Clearance not issued despite attested visas
• Workers’ flights being cancelled

The hard-earned remittances sent by nearly 12.5 million migrant workers are keeping the wheels of the national economy moving. Due to a lack of proper diplomatic efforts, labour markets in several Middle Eastern countries, as well as Malaysia, remain officially closed. The global overseas employment market continues to face a downturn.

Amid this situation, fresh concerns have emerged over the promising labour market in oil-rich Iraq. Since January 1, a total of 540,887 workers have gone abroad for employment.

The Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) has unofficially stopped issuing exit clearances without citing any reason, reportedly due to a decision by the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment and BMET. As a result, tickets for eight Iraq-bound workers were cancelled on Saturday.

The decision and alleged negligence by the ministry and BMET are putting Iraq’s promising labour market at risk once again. For the past month, BMET authorities have temporarily stopped issuing exit clearances for thousands of Iraqi visas attested by the Bangladesh Embassy in Baghdad, citing the need for further verification.

As a result, 500 workers seeking to travel to Iraq through TM Overseas have not received exit clearances. The workers are now living in severe anxiety. Despite having valid visas and passports, as well as visas approved and attested by the Bangladesh Embassy in Baghdad, the workers have been unable to complete the manpower clearance process through BMET in Bangladesh.

Eight Iraq-bound workers could not leave Dhaka for Iraq on Saturday despite purchasing air tickets, as they did not receive exit clearances. Their visa validity expired the previous day. They waited at the airport but eventually returned home in disappointment.

The workers seeking to travel to Iraq have repeatedly approached the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment and BMET for exit clearances, but have received no solution.

According to the report, hundreds of workers with valid, embassy-attested documents processed by recruiting agencies have been left waiting due to what has been described as rigid decisions and alleged negligence by some officials of BMET and the ministry.

Pervez Alam Chowdhury, First Secretary of the Labour Wing at the Bangladesh Embassy in Baghdad, reportedly inspected the demand for Bangladeshi workers in person and sent the documents after attestation.

Workers have been visiting BMET and the ministry for several days seeking exit clearances for employment in Iraq, but have yet to receive them. BMET authorities say that issuing exit clearances for Iraq-bound workers requires verbal approval from the Secretary of the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment.

Meanwhile, a member of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA), speaking on condition of anonymity, alleged that hundreds of Iraq-bound workers are now facing uncertainty due to the alleged negligence and arbitrary decisions of a Joint Secretary in the employment wing of the ministry.

The report said that the Bangladesh Embassy’s Labour Wing in Baghdad had verified the companies and inspected their facilities before attesting demand letters for several thousand Bangladeshi workers. Despite this, BMET has stopped issuing exit clearances for Iraq-bound workers for an unexplained reason.

According to a BMET official, exit clearances are issued after verification through the embassy’s Labour Counsellor. The attested demand letters have been sent back to Iraq for further verification. If everything is found to be correct, the workers will be allowed to travel to Iraq.