About 20,000 Bangladeshi migrant workers who have become undocumented in Kuwait are likely to get the opportunity of the Gulf state’s amnesty period that is beginning today.
The Kuwait interior ministry declared recently an amnesty period from January 29 to February 22 for migrant workers who do not possess valid residency permits to rectify their status or leave the country, according to Bangladesh Embassy in Kuwait.
Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training director general Salim Reza has said that undocumented Bangladeshis in Kuwait should avail the opportunity and get them legalised during the period by paying some fines or return home without facing problems.
The Kuwait government usually declares such an amnesty every two or three years, said Salim Reza, who had formerly worked as labour attaché in Kuwait.
Replying to a question, the BMET director general said that he could not know how many Bangladeshis had become undocumented in that country.
Counsellor and chief of Bangladesh mission in Kuwait Md Anisuzzaman said in a statement londontoto on Wednesday that the Bangladeshis wanting to return home would have to communicate with the embassy along with copies of their passport or national identity card or birth registration certificate from local government authorities in Bangladesh, and two passport size photographs.
‘Those who will leave the country during this amnesty will be allowed to re-enter Kuwait if they meet regular conditions of entry and if they were not banned from entry for any another reason,’ he said.
Referring to a Kuwaiti government estimation, a senior labour official of Bangladesh embassy there said that about 20,000 Bangladeshi workers had become undocumented in that country in 2016 for their failure to update their papers.
If an ‘illegal resident’ is caught after the amnesty period, he or she would be deported immediately. Residency violators who would not leave the country during the amnesty have to face not only legal penalties but also denial of visa for re-entry.
Kuwait has been recruiting Bangladeshi workers since 1976 and about 3 lakh Bangladeshis are currently working in Kuwait.
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