A significant number of Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia are facing uncertainty over regularisation of their job status under the Labour Recalibration Programme (LRP) as they are yet to go through biometric registration.
The deadline of such registration will expire on Thursday (March 31).
Sources said passports of many Bangladeshi workers had expired and they could not receive new ones due to complexities in passport issuance procedure.
They said the workers paid RM 5,000-5,500 to receive the opportunity of job regularisation under the LRP.
If the workers fail to complete the mandatory biometric registration by the deadline, they will not be able to regularise their job status under the LRP, added the sources.
The Malaysian government launched the LRP on November 16, 2020, while its deadline was scheduled to end on December 31, 2021.
But the labour-receiving country extended duration of the programme by six months (until June 2022), as a large number undocumented migrant workers failed to take the opportunity because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Under the arrangement, the job destination country will also allow voluntary return of migrant workers to their own countries.
Contacted, Nazmus Sadat Selim, minister of Bangladesh labour wing in Malaysia, said they would formally request the Malaysian authorities to extend the deadline of fingerprint registration to help the workers complete the biometric.
He said the maximum number of Bangladeshi workers had gone through the biometric registration, while some others could not do it because of various factors.
"But we don't want any worker to miss the opportunity under LRP," he said.
According to the home ministry of Malaysia, a total of 280,088 undocumented foreign workers have been registered by the recalibration programme.
Malaysia is a vital market for Bangladeshi workers. More than 1.0 million workers have gone to the Southeast Asian country with the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training clearances since 1978.
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