Bangladeshi workers, staying in Malaysia with irregular status, are facing uncertainty over utilising the opportunities of its Labour Recalibration Programme (LRP), as they could not renew their passports timely.
Under the programme, undocumented migrant workers will be allowed to regularise their job status. They will also get chance to return home voluntarily.
However, Malaysian government extended the deadline of LRP until 31 December this year. The programme, launched on November 16, 2020, was scheduled to end on June 30, 2021.
The labour-receiving country extended the duration, as a large number undocumented migrant workers failed to take its opportunities because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Talking to the FE, a good number of workers, who wanted to apply for the benefits of LRP, said they were waiting for receiving passports from the Bangladesh mission in Kuala Lumpur.
Besides, many workers could not renew their visas in absence of passports. They were counting financial penalty every month, they also said.
Sharing experience, a worker named Md Sharif said he helped a good number of Bangladeshis to apply for re-issuing passports through an app of the Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur.
He said it took minimum five to six months to get delivery of passports at present. Even it took more than one month to get message from the mission that it received their applications.
Many workers planned to apply for job regularisation, while many others wanted to return home under the programme. But they could not proceed further, he mentioned.
Md Iqbal, another worker, said he would apply for job regularisation. But he could not do it, as his passport expired.
"I submitted an application online for re-issuing passport in December 2020, and still I did not get it," he said, adding that he was in uncertainty if he could apply for regularisation or not.
When contacted, an official at the Bangladesh High Commission in Malaysia said they tried their best to deliver passports to the workers within a short time. But recently, the Department of Immigration and Passport (DIP) was not sending passports to the mission.So, they had no option to provide passports to the workers, he mentioned.
The Bangladesh High Commission in a circular on August 7 said capacity of the server at the DIP ended. So, a large number of applications were in the pipeline.
"This is beyond the high commission jurisdiction. The home ministry and the DIP are trying to address the technical issues, and hopefully it will be resolved soon," it added.
The DIP officials did not receive phone calls of the FE correspondent to make comments in this regard.
On the other hand, migration experts expressed frustration over the matter. They said though it was an unavoidable problem, the authorities concerned should take immediate steps to address it.
Abu Hayat, a Malaysia-based freelance researcher, said if the undocumented workers were not provided with passports shortly, they would be deprived of the opportunities that the Malaysian government announced for them.
The workers had only three to four months to apply for the benefits of the programme, he mentioned.
Malaysia is a vital market for Bangladeshi workers. More than 1.0 million workers went to the Southeast Asian country with the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training clearances since 1978.
