A total of around 1.07 million (1,076,000) Bangladeshis have travelled abroad for employment in 2025, with nearly 67 percent migrating to Saudi Arabia on work visas. Most of the remaining workers have gone to Singapore, the Maldives, and three Middle Eastern countries. Following the change in power at home, there were high expectations that the interim government would be able to send skilled workers to global labour markets, reopen closed destinations, and explore new overseas job markets. However, the reality shows that Bangladesh’s overseas employment has become overwhelmingly Saudi Arabia-centric, while many previously closed labour markets have yet to reopen.
Migration experts say the interim government has not achieved major success in expanding labour markets or reviving closed destinations through migration diplomacy. As a result, no new significant markets have emerged. They point out that a key constraint has been Bangladesh’s failure to produce workers with skills aligned to international demand. In addition, Bangladeshis already carry a negative image abroad due to illegal entry into labour markets, the use of fake documents, and inhumane living conditions. If this situation persists, stakeholders fear it could adversely affect remittance inflows and overseas employment in the coming days.
An analysis of data from the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) shows that even a decade ago, Bangladesh had at least 12 major overseas labour markets. That number has now shrunk to just two or three countries. Apart from Saudi Arabia, among the five countries still listed as top destinations, except Singapore, Kuwait, Qatar, and the Maldives, significant numbers of Bangladeshi workers are not currently going elsewhere.
According to BMET data, a total of around 1.07 million (1,075,976) workers migrated to various countries this year (as of December 17). Of them, 715,586 went to Saudi Arabia. Qatar received 104,678 workers. Other destinations included the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with 12,931 workers, Malaysia with 3,005, Oman with 642, and Singapore with 67,690.
After the interim government assumed office, many aspiring migrants hoped the Malaysian labour market would reopen, especially with syndicate-based recruitment reportedly halted. The interim government’s adviser for Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, Dr. Asif Nazrul, visited Malaysia in May this year and held talks in Kuala Lumpur with Malaysia’s Human Resources Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong. Following the meeting, Steven Sim announced that Malaysia would recruit between 100,000 and 150,000 Bangladeshi workers within a few months, giving Bangladesh priority. However, despite six months having passed since that announcement, only 3,005 workers have gone to Malaysia this year, compared with 93,632 in 2024.
In the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was once Bangladesh’s second-largest labour market. Worker migration to the UAE has also declined over the past two years. While nearly 100,000 Bangladeshis went to the country in 2023, only 12,931 have migrated there this year. The Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA), the body representing manpower exporters, believes Bangladesh’s overseas job market is becoming increasingly Saudi Arabia-centric. BAIRA leaders warn that even in this top destination, risks related to security, wages, and various other issues are rising.
Commenting on the issue, Fakhrul Islam, former joint secretary-general of BAIRA (the last committee), told Bonik Barta, “The overseas job market has now become almost entirely Saudi Arabia-centric. But even there, migrant workers are facing various problems related to iqama, wages, and access to work. There is also a lack of security. In most companies, workers do not receive an iqama, which pushes many into an illegal status. Even those who are working often do not get paid properly. These issues needed to be addressed through diplomatic efforts.”
Fakhrul Islam added that initiatives should have been taken to reopen labour markets that once held strong potential. “In particular, the Malaysian labour market has yet to reopen,” he told Bonik Barta.
With legal migration channels narrowing, irregular migration has risen sharply. According to the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), Bangladesh topped the list of countries whose nationals entered Europe by sea routes in 2025. So far this year, 20,462 Bangladeshis have travelled to various European countries through irregular routes, up from 15,304 last year.
Dr. Tasneem Siddiqui, founding chair of the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU), said, “Introducing voting rights for expatriates is a positive move of the interim government. We couldn’t persuade any previous government to do this. It has added a new dimension to the political system. Initiatives could have been taken to develop skilled workers. Reforms in the education system were necessary, but that didn’t happen. Female migration is declining, which is also worrying. Society bears some responsibility for negative narratives around female migration. While recruitment may have become somewhat more regulated, I haven’t seen any meaningful effort to modernise the system as a whole. Illegal migration has increased. Bangladeshis now top the list of irregular migrants to Europe. If workers had adequate skills, they wouldn’t have needed to migrate this way. On one hand, European countries are taking a tougher stance, while on the other, Bangladeshi workers are desperate to go. This required extensive discussion, preparation, and clear direction, but the government did not focus on it.”
Data from the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) show that over the past decade, labour markets for Bangladeshi workers have closed in Oman, Bahrain, Libya, Sudan, Egypt, Romania, and Brunei. Malaysia has suspended worker recruitment for more than a year due to syndicate-related issues. Although the labour market in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has not been formally closed, the issuance of worker visas has remained suspended since July last year. In 2019, 9,266 Bangladeshi workers migrated to Iraq, after which visas to the country effectively stopped. In October this year, Bangladesh’s Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment and the Iraqi government signed a memorandum of understanding on recruiting Bangladeshi workers following a joint committee meeting. Earlier, during the chief adviser’s visit to Japan in May, two memoranda of understanding were signed. Facing an acute labour shortage, Japan announced plans to recruit at least 100,000 Bangladeshi workers over the next five years. However, only 1,472 Bangladeshi workers have gone to Japan so far this year.
Bonik Barta made repeated attempts to contact Dr. Neyamat Ullah Bhuiyan, senior secretary of the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, for comments, but he could not be reached.