Friday 02 / May / 2025
Muscat: Bangladeshi blue-collar workers continue to pour into Oman even though many already here are struggling to find work due to the ongoing economic crisis, statistics from Dhaka reveal.
Oman has become a most-sought after destination for employment among Bangladeshi migrant workers, with a quarter of all migrants opting for the Sultanate.
Statistics issued by the Bangladesh Manpower and Employment and Training (BMET) showed that 146,257 Bangladeshis officially migrated to Oman for employment between January 1 and October 2.
In 2015, 129,859 Bangladeshis came to Oman for employment.
“We process visas for those who approach us with valid papers. However, we are a bit surprised to see the inflow of Bangladeshi workers to Oman,” a senior official from the Bangladesh embassy in Muscat said.
The BMET data showed that 26.67 per cent of Bangladeshis who migrated from Bangladesh between January 1 and October 2, came to Oman and 16.59 per cent migrated to Qatar.
According to the data, every month, between 15,000 and 17,000 Bangladeshi workers migrate to Oman officially in search of a job.
However, the majority of the workers come here on the so-called ‘free visa’ after paying huge sums back in Dhaka to agents. Also, most come without knowing their employers and then have to struggle to find a job for survival.
Mohammed Furhan, who migrated to Oman in August after paying OMR1,500 for a ‘free visa’, is just one example.
“I came to Oman last month after paying a huge amount to an agent. They said that I will get a visa to do any kind of job. I have not seen my sponsor. Now, I have landed in a situation where there is no job due to the economic crisis. It has become quite hard to survive. Just finding food for myself everyday is a problem,” Mohammed, who is looking for a job in Hamriyah, told the Times of Oman.
Hundreds of Bangladeshi ‘free visa’ workers in Hamriyah have been facing a tough time for the past few months.
With jobs lacking and workers finding it tough to survive, they have to arrange for their relatives to send them money through agents. The agents charge a large commission for the service.
For 20,000 Bangladesh taka, the workers here receive around OMR95. The Bangladesh government’s remittance data till August this year also showed a dip.
In 2015, remittance received in Bangladesh from Oman till August end was US$628.86 million while this year, it was only US$603.04 million for the same period.
A senior police official had recently said restrictions have been put in place to bring down the number of Bangladeshi workers coming to Oman.
Shahswar Al Balushi, the CEO of Oman Society of Contractors (OSC), added that authorities should provide visas only for workers who plan to work with companies having the capacity to hire them. “Government should classify the companies and make an assessment whether they require visas for workers. If the visas are provided after a proper check, the ‘free visa’ system will end on its own,” the CEO said.
According to the latest data of Oman government released last month, 659,366 Bangladeshis were working in Oman as of July this year, reflecting a 1.2 per cent increase from 651,820 in June.
