1.5 lakh aspirants got jobs abroad but couldn’t fly
Aviation News Report:
About 1 lakh 50 thousand job-seekers secured visas and some of them even bought tickets. But they could not fly. More than 1 lakh workers, who came on vacation, have got stuck at home and are now in fear of losing jobs abroad as their visas are expiring.
Another 3 lakh workers are now stranded in host countries without any income.
These are the stories of expatriates, who work abroad to send money home and whose hard-earned currencies helped the central bank build up a huge foreign exchange reserve.
But nothing much is there for remittance earners.
Overseas recruiting agents said about Tk1,500 crore in visa processing and other associated costs of migrant aspirants has been stuck for months since the pandemic stuck.
The Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira) said its 1,600 members indirectly contribute nearly $18 billion to the economy facilitating remittance inflow of migrant workers and sending around 7 lakh workers to different countries each year.
But they are now crippling with uncertainty of their business and the stimulus packages announced by the government eluded them.
