Bangladesh is pushing hard to send more migrant workers to Saudi Arabia as the Kingdom prepares for various mega projects, including the FIFA World Cup 2034. Saudi hosts the largest number of overseas Bangladeshis – three million – who constitute the single largest expatriate nationality in the country. In December 2024, media reports revealed that Saudi Arabia is issuing between 4,000 and 6,000 work visas daily to Bangladeshis as the Kingdom gears up for major infrastructure projects and high-profile events in the coming years. The size of the population also means that they face the most problems, including labour exploitation and contract violations.
Bangladeshi officials who visited Riyadh recently expressed confidence that more skilled and semi-skilled workers would be sent to Saudi, after meeting with officials, recruitment agents and businesse. Officials are simultaneously courting investments from the Kingdom in its IT sector
The deputy secretary at the Bangladesh Ministry of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment, Mohammad Shahed Anowar specifically mentioned the demand for construction workers, including plumbers, pipe fitters, welders, electricians, AC mechanics.
Anowar also stated that the Technical Training Centres were able to provide required skills, adding that the country was “collaborating with the Saudi agency Takamol, which certifies workers’ skills according to Saudi standards and requirements. We can dedicate specific TTCs to ensure the Kingdom can easily source skilled migrants from these centers.”
Migrant-Rights.Org had previously written about the exploitative and extractive nature of Takamol, a mandatory testing scheme that imposes financial and logistical burdens on migrant workers without corresponding benefits to their wages or other terms of work. Bangladesh continues to accept these conditions without critique, which also generates revenue for the country. The financial burden of Takamol is in addition to unchecked recruitment corruption.
Nevertheless, other labour sending countries are likely to deploy similar strategies to get a share of the opportunities that Saudi is likely to offer over the next decade.
