The Bangladesh government has asked the Saudi authorities to extend by another three months the visas granted to the country's expatriate workers. The request has been necessitated by the difficulties the expatriates, who returned home earlier in light of the coronavirus pandemic, have been faced with in trying to get back to their workplaces in the kingdom. A very large number of these expatriates have been asked by the management of the firms they work for to return to Saudi Arabia by the end of this month. The fear, a very legitimate one, for them is that if they do not or are not able to return before the expiry of the deadline, they may well lose their jobs.
The plight of the workers has come to the fore through the demonstrations they have been holding before the office of Saudia airlines in Dhaka. A few days ago, the Saudia authorities handed out tokens to them and asked them to return the following day to collect their tickets. When they went to the airline office again, they were informed that all tickets had been sold out. That was enough to propel them into new protests, desperate as they were to save their jobs.
Now that the government has intervened in the matter, through instructing the Bangladesh embassy in Riyadh to ask the Saudi government for another three-month extension of the visas now held by the expatriates stranded in Bangladesh, one hopes a positive outcome will emerge. One notes that the Saudi authorities have already extended the visas thrice in recent months, all because of complications arising out of the Covid-19 situation.
The Bangladesh Biman authorities have drawn attention to the question of landing rights in Saudi Arabia for the national flag carrier. With Biman scheduled to resume flights to the kingdom from October 1, one expects Riyadh to provide landing rights to the national airline at the earliest so that seats can be allocated to the expatriates, making it possible for them to return to their places of work in the kingdom.
These expatriates, who regularly contribute a big chunk of foreign exchange to the country, cannot afford to be without jobs. One may recall that of the $18.355 billion sent to the country in 2019 by expatriates, as much as $3.64 billion came from our expatriate workers in Saudi Arabia. Neither they nor the country can afford to say goodbye to such a huge chunk of foreign exchange earnings.
Many of them had return tickets when they arrived back in Bangladesh a few months ago. One expects that those tickets, even if their validity has expired in this long period of the coronavirus-related crisis, will be honoured through making special arrangements.
We will wait in expectation of the Saudi authorities responding favourably to the Bangladesh government's request for another three-month extension of visas and iqama (or work permits) for our hapless expatriates. The Saudis will be earning the nation's gratitude by showing their generosity once again.
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