Thousands of Bangladeshis who spend months preparing to work abroad reach the airport only to be turned back before departure. Mismatched visas, discrepancies in manpower clearances, forged documents and conflicting answers during immigration interviews often block their journeys. Others are caught attempting to enter restricted or closed labour markets through alternative routes.

Figures from the Special Branch of police show that 81,500 passengers were turned back from Bangladesh’s airports in the five and a half years between 2021 and June 2026. More than 29.1 million people travelled abroad during the same period.

While vast numbers leave each year for work and other purposes, some are stopped at the final stage of their journey, in some cases after being misled by recruitment networks.

Special Branch data also show that 2,622,711 Bangladeshis travelled abroad on various visas in the first six months of 2026, while 7,819 passengers were turned back. In 2025, a total of 5,708,132 people travelled abroad and 15,516 were stopped at the airport.

In 2024, 6,428,093 people travelled abroad and 18,009 were turned back. A record 6,992,253 travelled in 2023, while 9,872 failed to clear immigration. In 2022, 5,299,313 went abroad and 18,756 were turned back, the highest refusal figure for any single year. In 2021, 2,060,683 travelled abroad while 11,528 were stopped.

Digitally Altered Documents and Forged Approvals

Taslima Begum (not her real name) recently arrived at the immigration counter at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka to travel to Oman, where she said she was joining her husband. She held a clearance card from the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) and her paperwork appeared complete.

But questioning by an immigration officer exposed the irregularities in her case: Oman currently has a suspension on general worker visas and the recruitment of female domestic workers.

Asked how long her husband had been in Oman, Taslima said nearly five years. Asked how long they had been married, she said they had married “over the phone”. But when she was asked for proof, she produced a wedding photograph but had no registered nikahnama (marriage contract) or other legal documentation.

Closer inspection showed that the photograph had been digitally altered using Photoshop. Immigration police then cross-checked digital archives and uncovered a wider fraud scheme. The same spouse visa approval letter in her husband’s name had been used for five different women travelling to Oman on different passports. Her departure was subsequently cancelled.

Immigration sources say attempts to enter closed labour markets through visa fraud pose a serious challenge for airport screening. Government seals, signatures and approval letters are being forged, they say, making fraud difficult to detect without detailed checks against digital databases.

At least 23 countries have been linked to visa fraud and illegal migration involving Bangladeshi nationals, according to immigration police. They include Thailand, India, Malaysia, China, Turkey, the UK, the US, Switzerland, France, Italy, Portugal, Pakistan, Egypt, Romania, Bulgaria, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, Libya, Cyprus, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.

The “Page Substitution” Scheme

Immigration sources report that an organised syndicate has targeted family visa approvals for Bangladeshi expatriates in Italy using a technique known as “page substitution”. The ring exploits a visa facility provided by the Italian government, under which a record 12,500 Bangladeshi family visas were issued in 2026 alone, the highest figure for any single country.

First, the syndicate sends a legitimate visa holder to Italy. Once the journey is complete, the ring replicates the Italian visa, the Bangladeshi departure stamp and the Italian arrival stamp. It then cuts out the entire visa page and replaces it in a second person’s passport. The second traveller is selected to match the physical appearance of the original recipient, ensuring that nothing appears suspicious during a visual inspection.

In another case, a Special Branch officer recalled a Bangladeshi who had lived in France for 12 years and returned home after paying approximately €10,000 for a forged Swiss passport, only to be caught at Dhaka immigration. Officers grew suspicious because the physical passport was larger than international standard dimensions. A biometric scanner failed to detect a chip signal and subsequent checks confirmed that the document was entirely fake. The man said he had obtained the passport to facilitate entry into various countries from Bangladesh.

Irregular sea routes across the Mediterranean from Libya and jungle treks in South Africa have long made headlines. The SB officials said a large number of young men from Noakhali and Laxmipur have now been identified attempting to reach the US border via Brazil and Mexico.

With established diaspora communities in the United States, local youths are driven to reach the country at any cost, with some spending up to BDT 5 million on the journey. People attempting to travel through Brazil and Mexico are now being monitored separately, the official added.

Harassment and Arbitrary Stops

Not every passenger who is stopped is implicated in fraud. Travellers with valid documents have also complained of harassment and arbitrary intervention.

Talha Rahman arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport for his first foreign trip while still a university student — a trip to Thailand. Despite holding a valid passport, visa and travel itinerary, he was subjected to unusual questioning at the counter.

The officer on duty demanded to know “why a student travelling abroad for the first time was going to Thailand rather than India”.

Talha was detained without clear cause and taken to a senior officer’s room, where he was told his trip would be cancelled. But when Talha named his university, the officer’s stance changed and he was allowed to board. He experienced a similar ordeal on a subsequent trip to Malaysia, again avoiding further trouble after naming his university.

There are also cases of passengers clearing immigration after using “powerful connections”. Ashikur Rahman (not his real name) was stopped on his first trip to Malaysia despite having a valid visa, BMET clearance and complete documentation. Officers moved to retain his passport and begin the process of recording a general diary (GD). A senior official was contacted to intervene and, following a video call to the airport officer in charge, the decision was abruptly reversed. “Oh brother, what was the need to call sir directly? Go on, board the plane,” the officer told him.

Institutional Accountability and Systemic Gaps

A passenger turned back at the airport can be left with family finances, borrowed money and months of preparation behind them. The question is not simply how many passengers are stopped, but why discrepancies are being discovered only after they reach the airport.

Asif Munir, a migration and refugee expert, believes taking action against individual brokers would not solve the problem. He argued that the institutions responsible for vetting migrant workers must be held administratively accountable, with stricter oversight of clearances issued by BMET and labour wings at Bangladeshi diplomatic missions abroad.

Munir urged the government to move away from a policy focused solely on “maximising overseas worker numbers” and instead build an integrated, automated data system linking the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment with the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Such a system, he said, would generate digital alerts before passengers reach the airport if agencies are blacklisted, countries have no mission or labour agreement, or transit routes appear suspicious.

Dr Ziauddin Ahmed, additional secretary at the home ministry, said immigration police have been kept active to prevent human trafficking and illegal migration. Officers are receiving specialised training to assess passenger behaviour and intent, particularly because risks to women are increasing on both air and maritime routes, he said.

However, Ahmed acknowledged that “some complaints about people getting through by paying police or being unjustly stopped are true.”

“Whichever country workers are sent to, BMET should approve clearance only after rigorous scrutiny and proper vetting, so that no worker has to return from home or from abroad,” he told Bonik Barta. “For countries we consider risky, where there’s a risk of illegal migration or human trafficking, BMET must be far more cautious in approving exit clearances.”

Md Nurul Haque, state minister for expatriates’ welfare, said his ministry is working with the Ministry of Home Affairs to tackle visa fraud but acknowledged that BMET has limited access to visa verification systems.

“The reality is that our ministry mainly verifies demand letters and the need for manpower at the relevant workplace. BMET doesn’t have the real authority to verify visas either. It has access to visa verification for only four or five countries; for the rest there is no access,” Haque told Bonik Barta, alleging that many were exploiting this limitation.

“Some dishonest officials within BMET are also involved in issuing exit clearances on fake documents, turning a blind eye. This has come to my attention as well.”

The state minister noted that a case in which BMET clearance was fraudulently granted for fake visas to Serbia had come to light and that an investigation committee had been formed.

He said BMET had been told to strictly verify visas for high-risk countries including Serbia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Libya. “If a full visa checking system can be introduced at BMET, this problem will be solved permanently. We are discussing placing an immigration team at BMET to carry out joint visa verification properly. Effective steps will be taken soon.”