Good! then make an informed decision. We can provide you the required information.

Going abroad to work and reside means that you have to temporarily leave behind your family, friends, your usual lifestyle, etc. This requires thinking, weighing on pros and cons, and evaluating the situation before making a decision. 

We can advise you and your family while taking a decision on leaving Bangladesh.We can help you in number of ways by providing guidance and directions on various issues including:

• the process and procedures involved in going abroad
• employment opportunities in overseas 
• information on access to available government services
• referral to other service providers
• destination country specific information
• skills training opportunities
• legal, career, psychological and social counselling
• migrants’ rights and duties
• self protection while living abroad
• complaint mechanism 
• foreign culture, rules and regulation
• financial literacy
• adaptation technique 
• safe and successful return 

We have counsellors at Migrant Resource Centre, who are experts in migration. They will provide you timely and accurate information to make your migration a safe and successful one. You can reach the MRC counsellors by visiting the MRC offices or have one to one sessions via phone or messenger chat.  

All of our services are free! yes absolutely free. Rest assured about privacy because our counselling sessions are strictly confidential and private.

Visit us at Dhaka and Cumilla. We are at your service!

Safety first! Perhaps you are planning to go abroad to work or for study or reunite with a family member or relative. Whatever the reason is, please follow the below mentioned points to stay safe:

Be informed

Before deciding to migrate, find out as much as you can about the place where you will work or stay, the nature of your employment, the living and working conditions there and the cultural and environmental situation. Talk to your family and friends and seek help from MRC.

Migrate legally

Travelling without visa and other legal documents is a bad decision. Migrate only if you have all the documents you need for this travel, including your visa and work permit. Irregular migration puts you under many risks, such as exploitation or work without pay.

If you are offered or promised a job abroad, know the recruiter

Do not trust everyone. Find out as much as you can about the recruitment agency that is assisting you in finding work abroad. What is their reputation? Do they have a license for their work? Are they asking you to lie about your age or to work without a contract? Are they offering tourist visas instead of work permits?

Sign a contract before you accept an employment offer

Contracts are important! Ask to have a contract signed with the recruitment agency or employer. Without a contract, your work is not secure. Understand the details of your contract. It should be written in a language that is clear to you and signed by you and your employer.

Protect your Documents

Keep your personal documents safe. Make photocopies of your passport, visa, work contract, etc. Keep the original copies in a safe place and keep photocopies with yourself and your family. Do not allow your employer or recruitment agency to keep your personal documents even if they demand for it.

In Emergencies

Be prepared. Always carry with you a list of important telephone numbers including local police, ambulance, fire department, your friends and family, the Bangladesh embassy or consulate, NGOs, trade union, migrants’ associations and the Migrant Resource Centres in Dhaka and Cumilla.

Keep contact with other people

Do not be alone. Keep regular contact with your friends and family in Bangladesh. Let them know that you are well and safe. Befriend and interact with other migrants in your place of work. Get regular feedback from your employer and colleagues. This way, you can help and support one another.

Protect yourself

If you have problems, talk with a trusted person. Seek help from NGOs or authorities for advice and protection, such as the Bangladesh Embassy or Consulate. Use your income wisely. Maintain your remittance to your family but also save something for yourself. Use only the legitimate remittance companies in sending your money back in Bangladesh.

All of our services are free! yes absolutely free. Rest assured about privacy because our counselling sessions are strictly confidential and private.

Visit us at Dhaka and Cumilla. We are at your service!

Travelling without a valid passport, valid visa, work permit, manpower clearance or other legal documents or crossing the border in an illegal way is a bad decision. If you are traveling without the required legal documents then you are putting yourself under a big risk. Entering to or staying in a country without proper documents is a breach of law thus it is an act of irregular migration. Irregular migration has many negative consequences that you might face, such as:

• Lack of freedom of movement
• Always a need for an escape
• Deprivation  of actual salary and other benefits
• Torture by the employer
• Victim of human trafficking
• Deprivation of help and support 
• Financial loss and mental trauma
• No medical facility in Government Hospitals
• Arrest and punishment with imprisonment
• Deportation to the country of origin
• Lifetime banning for the visa processing by the government

Be careful

There are Dalals or intermediaries who use various means, strategies, and schemes to consume their unlawful acts. These middlemen are not registered recruiters and not recognised by law or any other authority. They may offer you a ‘Free Visa’, promise you a healthy salary and good opportunities abroad, get you the fake documents required for travelling. 

Be observant, cautious, and vigilant about recruitment agencies. Always check with the government agency in charge of regulating or monitoring them. Make it a habit to double or triple check their current status. 

Be vigilant 

The middleman or the dalals can charge you more money than the required fees and they can out you under a life threatening situation during your journey to a foreign country. Know about the actual fees and procedures for going abroad by visiting your nearest District Employment and Manpower Office. Government of Bangladesh has a fixed cost for prospective migrants for specific countries.

Other risk factors

Even if you travel in a legal way to another country, however you may become an irregular migrant if you overstay your visa or work permit. Becoming an irregular migrant will put you in vulnerable situation in the foireign country.

You may be expelled or deported to Bangladesh if you do not have legal permits to stay in a foreign nation.

We provide more information on this matter absolutely free of cost and in a private arrangement. Visit us at MRC Dhaka and MRC Cumilla.

Before leaving the country take the pre-departure training. It is mandatory to receive this training for the people who are going abroad to work. You need to pay 200 taka to get this training from the nearest Technical Training Centres. Do not forget to open two bank accounts before flying.

MRCs also provide pre-departure session/training to the prospective and outgoing migrants. In these sessions, MRC counsellors try to provide accurate and latest information to the participants regarding safe migration. Employment, settlement or education, whatever the reason for your migration, we will provide tailor-made information which are must to know for you.

These information will help you make smart decisions and to adapt to the new surroundings abroad. We conduct these sessions at different technical and vocational institutions, colleges and universities. Through these sessions/trainings you will get to know about the common migration trends, benefits of safe migration, risk and consequences of smuggling and human trafficking.

In addition to this session, MRCs regularly conduct awareness sessions on safe migration in remote areas.

The sessions the MRCs conduct are free of cost. Yes absolutely free!

Please contact us or visit our MRC Dhaka and Cumilla offices if you want us to visit your academic institutions or community to raise awareness on migration.

We work with government and non-government agencies that support people like you- to inform Bangladeshis who want to go abroad, who face trouble in another country or who want to return. We refer you to the right government agency or NGO’s who can help you in their area of expertise throughout your journey abroad. The following list of institutes and services might be of interest to you:

Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training

You can get your manpower clearance card/smart card from here. If you have a complaint, you can make it there and they will conduct the arbitration. It is located at Kakrail. Here is more information:
Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training-BMET https://www.facebook.com/www.bmet.gov.bd/

Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Limited (BOESL)

You can have an overseas job circular from this government organization. BOESL does overseas recruiting on behalf of the government of Bangladesh. Trade tests, medical tests, tickets, etc. are arranged by BOESL.
They are located on the 4th floor of Probahi Kallyan Bhaban just beside the Borak tower. To find out more click on this link:
https://www.facebook.com/boesl.gov.bd/

Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA)

This is the organization to coordinate the activities of licensed recruiters. They also search for suitable jobs for the Bangladeshi people.

Wage Earners Welfare Board (WEWB)

This welfare board has been established to ensure lasting and meaningful welfare of migrants and their families at home and abroad. If you need support to carry and bury a migrant dead body, and need financial grant as a member of a deceased migrant family you can communicate with them. If you are returning because of injury or sickness then this board will also provide you financial support.

Apart from these, WEWB also provides ambulance service to the disabled and sick migrants, scholarship to the migrants’ children and help women migrants to return home and manage safe homes. Their office is also in Probashi Kallyan Bhaban. To check other available services of WEWB, click on this link:
http://www.wewb.gov.bd/

Probashi Kallyan Bank

For migration loan, rehabilitation loan and banking services you can contact this state owned bank. You can find the location of the branches of this bank on their website. Link is here:
http://pkb.gov.bd/

Passport Office

A must need to travel abroad is a valid passport. If you want to cross your own country’s border you will need a passport.
You can apply for a machine readable passport through online or submit the application physically. You may also apply for a newly introduced epassport. The Department of Immigration and Passport office is located at Agargaon in Dhaka. To apply online for a machine readable passport and to know more about the rules and procedures click on this link:
http://www.passport.gov.bd/Default.aspx

GAMCA

If you are bound for Gulf states (Saudia Arabia, Oman, Qatar, etc.) then you will need to be tested and have a Medical Fitness Certificate issued by accredited medical centers. These medical centres are collectively known as GCC Approved Medical Centers Association (GAMCA).

You can seek help from your recruitment agency or directly apply to the GAMCA website to get the GAMCA slip. Here is the link:
https://v2.gcchmc.org/

Also feel free to visit MRCs offices in Dhaka and Cumilla for more contacts.

You are experienced now. The skills that you have obtained while working abroad are transferable. You can apply these skills in your motherland, at your new workplace. Perhaps you can apply for a job in your home county-that is similar to your previous work abroad- or start off a new venture on your own. If you want to become an entrepreneur, try to utilise your foreing country experience and knowledge and come up with innovative ideas; create new businesses. Use your own savings and apply for bank loans.

However, some returnee migrants might have unpleasant experiences in their destination countries. You might have been tortured, cheated and forced to return to your homeland . You have every right to complain about it.

If you want to report a complaint you can make it online. BMET can help you in this regard. Visit www.ovijogbmet.org website, fill in the form and describe the incident. After submitting the complaint you will be given a pin number to check your complaint status.

Besides, you can directly file a case in first class judicial magistrate court or first class metropolitan magistrate court.

You can also visit MRCs for advice. We can refer you to responsible authority to solve your problem. We do not charge anything for this service. Counsellors of MRCs also provide psychological counselling to overcome your stress. This service is confidential, private and free of cost.