Overseas Employment and Migrants (amendment) Bill, 2023 placed in JS

Overseas Employment and Migrants (amendment) Bill, 2023 was placed in the Jatiya Sangsad with a view to bringing middlemen of international migrations accountable.

Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmad placed the bill in the House with Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair.

Piloting the bill, the minister said middlemen are found to be violating rights in most cases of international migration. “This is why we are including them in the legal framework. We are amending the law and including them as sub-agents.”

The middlemen will face legal action if they become involved in illegal activities when the law comes into force, he said.

Ahamd said the new act will be enacted by amending ‘Overseas Employment and Migration Act 2013’ aiming to reduce the oppression and tyranny of middlemen or brokers in workforce export.

Over one crore migrant workers sent record amount of $22.07 billion remittance in 2021 despite the Covid pandemic.

Female overseas employment had increased in recent years after the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia allowed women to migrate at free of cost under a 2015 deal.

The minister urged the parliament to send the bill to the concerned parliamentary standing committee for providing report within a day. (BSS)