Oman to legalise 96,000 Bangladeshi workers

The Oman government has assured to legalise 96,000 illegal Bangladeshi workers, said State Minister for Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Shofiqur Rahman Choudhury on Tuesday.

Speaking to journalists, Shofiqur said, “Around 96,000 workers are living illegally in Oman. The Omani government has promised to legalise them. A penalty is charged for this legalisation, but we have requested the Omani government to waive this fine.

“Oman has assured us of taking new workers under 12 categories from Bangladesh. They want to hire skilled workers, and we have discussed this matter. If skilled workers start heading for Oman, unskilled workers will too. These arrangements will be made gradually.”

Discussing the United Arab Emirates (UAE) labour market, the state minister said, “A meeting has been held with the business community of Dubai, with the goal of making the Dubai labour market more dynamic and thriving.

“We already received a demand from Dubai for 3,000 workers. Among them, 400 workers have left, and another 500 workers are waiting to go.”

State Minister Shafiqur Rahman Chowdhury had recently visited Dubai, Oman and Qatar regarding the Middle Eastern labour market. He briefed reporters on his visit on Tuesday.