Expats face 80pc of harassments before leaving country: Foreign Adviser

Almost 80% of the harassments and troubles expatriate workers face for going abroad start from Bangladesh, and later spread during their foreign travel, Foreign Adviser Md Touhid Hossain said on Friday.

Later, the Bangladesh embassies abroad, despite playing little part in the crisis, have to contend with nearly insurmountable task of alleviating the workers’ sufferings, the adviser said at the Foreign Service Academy on the occasion of the "Foreign Service Day-2025."

There are around one crore Bangladeshis living abroad, and the foreign missions are continuing to serve this large community with limited resources.

For example, in Saudi Arabia, there are 23 lakh expatriates but the Bangladesh embassy there has only around 50 staff members. About 10 lakh expatriates reach out to the embassy to resolve their “really difficult problems,” piling tremendous pressure on the understaffed mission.

Officials in Dhaka must take the lead in minimising the sufferings of the expatriates, while reducing the workload on embassies abroad, Md Touhid Hossain said.

He also said that efforts are underway to increase the workforce in various missions, especially in consulate general offices.

He added that while mission officials and staff may face their own challenges, the problems encountered by expatriates are often much greater and must be dealt with.