Faith and ‘free’ visas secure the Saudi stranglehold over Bangladeshi migrants

In 2023, 1.3 million Bangladeshis emigrated for work. Of them, 38.2% went to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia alone. Since the 1990s, over five million have sought a livelihood in the Kingdom. That’s a third of all migration and nearly half of all female migration from Bangladesh. There have been bans on recruitment - Opens in new tab from both the Bangladeshi government and the Gulf states - Opens in new tab, mass deportations, rampant wage theft and yet the lure of Saudi has only become stronger. It’s the dream destination, where even if things become dire, all would be forgiven given the vicinity of the holy land. A chance to perform Hajj or Umrah was worth the risks. “And if we die there, we go to jannat,” says Debu, who was attending the final day of pre-departure orientation at one of the several training centres in Cumilla district, which has the distinction of sending most migrants from Bangladesh. Debu’s comment was dismissive of the problems that they may encounter in Saudi, but his thoughts are echoed by both aspiring and returnee migrants across villages and districts.

Activist Syed Saiful Haque echoes this almost verbatim as what he has heard and witnessed over the decades. “Men pay as steep a fee as BDT400,000-BDT500,000 (US$3650-4600) for Saudi. It’s the sacred land, so Muslims want to go there. Even if they die there they will go to Jannat is what they think.” No amount of awareness and education by government or NGOs, such as his own, will sway their belief. Saiful is the Chairman of WARBE (Welfare Association for the Rights of Bangladeshi Emigrants) Development Foundation.

At destination, this facet of the faith takes a different hue. Abdul Latheef a social worker in Riyadh says one of the reasons migrants are scared to file complaints or confront employers is that they do not want to be deported and banned from re-entry. It would be a huge blow to their beliefs to not be able to carry out one of the key tenets of Islam – to perform Hajj. “How can you ban them from entering their holy land, where they want to go for pilgrimage? This is how employers get away with abusing workers too.”

The dream of living and working in a sacred place is peddled and facilitated by a complex machinery. Activists and officials call the dalals (middlemen) ‘dream sellers’, but as aspiring migrants, returnees and families share their experience, it becomes evident that the dreams are more than a commercial ploy. The nature of recruitment, particularly to Saudi, employs a unique modus operandi. While registered recruitment agents do play a critical role, the actual process is far from straightforward and goes through a maze of actors, including the dalals (unregistered sub-agents). Families and friends working in the kingdom procure visas from their network – employers, families of employers – and then sell these to job seekers back home either directly or through dalals and agents. Though stakeholders across the labour migration eco-system agree on one thing – that visa trading is rampant and normalised, there seems no clear path out of it. Every time one avenue of visa trading is axed, Hydra-like, another one or two emerge. 

Skills, training, and a race to flee

The Cumilla District Employment Manpower Office (DEMO), Assistant Director Rahinure Islam says, “There are 2700 recruitment agents in total in the country. But from Cumilla as in the rest of the 63 districts, 80% are going on independent visas obtained from relatives and friends, and the rest through company visas. To go to KSA, even if you receive a visa directly, you have to go through a registered agent, and that’s how they make their money. For female workers it is supposed to be zero cost – visa, medical everything is free but dalals still charge between BDT20,000-40,000 (US$182-365).”

Cumilla TTC Principal Kamruzzaman says though there is an Economic Processing Zone (EPZ) that provides jobs locally the lure of migration is too strong. “In fact, it’s so difficult to counter, the government bank — Probashi Kallyan bank — gives loans at 9% for migration expenses to dissuade them from selling land.”

The TTCs provide 14 occupational training courses that are not migration-specific, but 15% of the students go abroad within six months, he says. Skilling for electricians, drivers, plumbers in particular is in high demand. In addition, the Recognition of Prior Learning programme is also in full swing, and last year around a 1000 candidates received the certification.

“We are seeing that people are very sincere about being trained and skilled. It was different five years ago when there were not enough programmes or interest. The government is also investing in education. Workers themselves feel if unskilled they will attract low salaries. A welder will earn BDT60,000 (US$547) while an unskilled worker would earn a third of it only. South Korea pays even as much as BDT200,000 (US$1820) for welders based on skill levels.”  

In Mirpur, Dhaka, the Bangladesh-German Technical Training Centre is situated inside a sprawling complex of buildings, with indoor and outdoor training facilities. Within the compound are vehicles of all capacities, and a garage that resembles a chop shop, where the driving and automobile mechanics classes are held. Inside a large hall there are multiple sessions in progress, and in the central part are a few tables converted into a semi-cubicle with plywood planks, and a camera atop the box. This is where the 90-minute Saudi Takamol certification testing - Opens in new tab takes place. This camera is linked to monitors in Saudi, who oversee the testing. Once a week there’s a test day. This centre is one of six that provides the facility. There are two components to the testing – one computerised test that involves 30 Multiple Choice Questions and a skill test.

Trainers Fauzia and Shireen Akhtar and job placement officers Masoon and Anwar, giving a tour of the facility, share that Bangladesh bore the costs of testing for the first 1000 candidates when Takamol was rolled out in February 2023. At US$50 per candidate that was US$50,000 from the South Asian state to meet the Kingdom’s requirement, which has neither a minimum wage nor a sliding scale wage based on skill level. Now workers have to pay the US$50, plus all expenses they bear to come to these centres with the help of the dalals and agents. 

The jobs on offer are diverse, with the construction sector still attracting large numbers. “They are also recruited to work in shipyards, a skill Bangladeshis have, and in security as well.” Masoon and Anwar share some big names as top recruiters – Nakilat, Transguard, and Aramco. “Recruitment agents are bringing these jobs from Dubai, Qatar, and Saudi. Only .04% go through the Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Limited (BOESL), the rest all use private agencies.”  

Apart from the 14 three-month courses and Pre-Departure Orientation (PDO), two types of housekeeping training take place at the TTC – the one for Gulf states is for two months and for Asia Pacific three months. There’s a stark difference between the facilities in the two adjacent training rooms. The former is run down, with outdated equipment and the latter has more specialised training along with the required tools.

“There are currently over 1.1 million women working abroad, almost all of whom work as domestic workers, the majority in Saudi Arabia,” according to the trainers. The average age of aspirants is 25-40 years.

But Kamruzamman notes that there are fewer domestic workers undergoing training compared to pre-Covid times. “It’s a two-month course now, and last year (2022) we had only sent 120 in total [from Cumilla]. The year before it was 200.” This does not mean women are not going abroad, just that they are no longer going via regular routes.

There has been a steep increase in female migration from Bangladesh, primarily driven by the demand from Saudi which lifted a seven-year ban - Opens in new tab on recruitment from the country in 2016, with a key condition that a third of the recruitment would have to be for female domestic workers. So from just 13 in 2013, the figures jumped to 68,286 and 83,354 in 2015 and 2016. Post-covid there has been a dip; still in 2023, 50254 of the 76,108 female migrants were headed to the Kingdom. [see part 2 on Women’s Migration]

Rahinure who has worked in this field for several years says there isn’t much thought put into the decision to go abroad. “They are earning a minimum of BDT20,000 here but they don’t calculate the cost of migration. There are over 2.2 million youth entering the job market every year, and only a third look for options locally. Last year 1.1 million went abroad. There is a pilot project in five TTCs where they are given allowances, training, and a job placement with a minimum of BDT20,000 salary. Still, they are reluctant to stay back.”

The DEMO office also holds PDOs. Eight batches of 100 each every week. The mountain of footwear at the entrance of the office is an indication of a full house. Right outside, in the narrow alley, are several touts and dalals looking to make new deals. The largest batch is on the sheltered rooftop. As Rahinure takes the mic to address the class, he urges them to open a bank account, to peruse the contract, and to be careful about what they sign. The class nods along. But when it was time for a show of hands, almost all of them had already paid hefty fees, with no receipts. “The sender of the visas are relatives and they don’t question them, and not to mention the demand for job visas abroad is so high, they don’t have the power to bargain,” says Rahinure.

Entrapment by visa trade

Kamruzzaman says you would not find a single family without a migration connection and someone in the Gulf. A family connection also means that visas are easier to come by. You can see that in the relative affluence of the district, with a lot of flourishing businesses and wealthy homes.

The Cumilla TTC is a three-storey building. The centre itself is a complex of offices much like the one in Dhaka. It is less congested, but on the day has at least about 600 persons spread across various training rooms. There are several PDO sessions in progress in different rooms, with over 150 aspirants in each, almost all of them male. The majority were first-timers and headed to KSA. A show of hands on who paid money – other than the prescribed fees – and it was unanimous. Every single person had. In other districts, other training centres, and other PDO sessions, covering over 2000 aspiring migrant workers the response was almost identical. No one knew that they were not expected to pay for the job and on average they paid BDT500,000 each. 

A few at Cumilla were going to Oman (paying BDT200,000) and UAE (BDT300,000), but the Saudi-bound ones paid the highest, upwards of BDT500,000 (US$ 4560) and at times even BDT700,000 (US$6390). There is no question of not paying. Except for a negligible minority, everyone who was headed to KSA had received their visa directly from a friend or family. Yet the recruitment agent plays a role, as it is a Saudi requirement. The dalal will only give contracts and help them to go after we get the visa, they say.

Systemic corruption and the steep task of ethical recruitment

Registered agents are adamant that their role is problematised only because of the corrupt recruitment system, and dalals insist that their services are indispensable to facilitate migration. Mohammed Iqbal, a member of the Cumilla Grievance Management Committee (GMC) established by WARBE, is also a dalal, who spent 12 years in Saudi working as an office assistant. “I have links there to send visas for jobs. Have sent 10 people so far in the last two years, two in Dubai and the rest to Saudi – to work as cleaners, drivers, and at a petrol bunk.”

Explaining the process, he says friends ‘pass on’ visas from Gulf states, and the agency in Bangladesh carries out all the other processes to send workers abroad. “The worker gets a three-month iqama (residence permit card). Though there’s a contract given here it is not valid at destination. After three months they can switch jobs.” Iqbal says of the 10 he has sent abroad, only three got a proper job with a contract, one came back and nine are still at destination, on irregular status. “After three months iqama if they don’t find a job they are illegal,” he says as a matter of fact, not quite recognising his own complicity in this forced irregularity. “The company is supposed to process their job contract but does not. In 2006 when I went to Saudi I got a two-year iqama. Now it's only one year.”

Iqbal receives BDT300,000 from each of the workers but says he had to give most of it to the friends who ‘brought’ him the visa. He has filed a case against his friend in Saudi, but it is of no use he feels, since they live abroad. 

Dillu, works as a dalal mainly in Munshiganj sits down reluctantly for a chat. He has been doing this work for 15 years and works primarily with three recruitment agencies (who have 500 dalals between them) based in Dhaka. Unlike Iqbal, he has never been abroad himself; yet, he is sought after by people in his town and from afar, he says. He has sent over 300 people abroad for work, and over 250 were women, deploying them to Dubai, Saudi, Oman, and Qatar. The last two are friendliest for women he feels. “I don’t go to them, people come to me, and my phone number goes around. Earlier I would send a family member then the others get to know and ask me.”

When workers he sends abroad call with complaints he contacts the agents, and they contact the people abroad. The agent there then takes the initiative to ‘investigate the complaint’, and if the ‘complaint is valid’ the worker is rescued, he explains. “If the problem is with the worker, we make them continue. Sometimes women use the phone too much, during work, which annoys employers and they slap them. It is normal since they are taken there to work. Using the mobile is a problem,” he says, claiming no one he sent abroad has had any trouble, or “at least no major case.”

Dillu receives between BDT10,000-15,000 per worker from the agent. For male workers it is BDT20,000. He makes use of men within the community to round up those interested in going abroad. Bangladesh has proposed registered dalals, and he feels it is a good move. “Logistically difficult to register all of them. But for my own security, to have documentation would be better. Everyone blames us. We are not all guilty. I call the families of workers and try to prove who was wrong and then solve through mediation. The chance of dalal being guilty is 50-50, but people generalise.”

The role of dalals is critical for ease of migration, he insists. “Women have to go to PDO, to Dhaka, for training. Who will take responsibility for all that? We do.” Some of the failed migrations he is blamed for are also because of false medical certificates, which is not his responsibility, he says.