Shawdesh Desk:

The Sultanate of Brunei has reopened accepting job visa applications of Bangladeshi workers, said the High Commission of Brunei Darussalam in Dhaka.

The High Commission of Brunei Darussalam in Dhaka had on August 4 temporarily stopped accepting job visa applications of Bangladeshi workers as fake visas were issued by some Brunei companies in collaboration with  Bangladeshi brokers in Brunei as well as in Bangladesh.

On arrival in Brunei with fake visas they got spending money Bangladeshi workers found that no jobs awaited them.

Over 73,000 Bangladeshi workers took jobs in Brunei since 1992, according to data of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training.

About 30,000 Bangladeshi workers are currently working in Brunei, mostly in the construction sector.

In 2018, about 75 per cent of Bangladeshi workers were illegally sent to Brunei by the brokers in collaboration with immigration police at the airport through so-called ‘body contracts’, said officials.

Due to brokers’ strong hold  over worker  recruitments from Bangladesh, it could lose the job marker in Brunei, official in Dhaka told New Age.

They said that the brokers sent the workers to Brunei without clearance from the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training.