A majority 87.5 per cent of the virus-hit migrants who returned from abroad and their families did not receive any relief or grants from the government in 2020.
Only 6.0 per cent of them got relief from non-governmental organisations, according to a Bangladeshi Ovhibashi Mohila Sramik Association (BOMSA) study.
It found that most of them were the only wage-earner in their families with one to five dependents.
The findings of the study were shared during a virtual workshop on Tuesday.
The survey, which was done between March and December 2020, covered 350 respondents. Of them, 200 were returnees and 150 left-behind families of the workers.
Thew areas it covered included Dhaka (Mirpur), Jashore Sadar, Savar, Narsingdi, Manikganj and Narail Sadar.
The workers mainly migrated to Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Lebanon, Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain.
Asked about the reason behind their return, a significant number of the respondents said they came home on vacation but could not manage to fly overseas.
Many of them lost jobs while others said their visa and work permit got expired.
Some of them returned home because of sickness while some were pushed back by host countries.
According to the survey, 66 per cent of those questioned showed interest in remigration during the post-pandemic period.
However, 31 per cent have no interest to migrate again as they are in money worries or unable to manage migration cost.
Over 45 per cent of the returnees said they were screwed with loans taken from relatives (27.5 per cent), micro-finance institutions (9.0 per cent) and local brokers (2.0 per cent).
On the other hand, 19 per cent could repay partially and 2.5 per cent are yet to pay any instalment.
The study found the remittance savings practice very rare among the returnees.
It identified only 19.5 per cent who saved money with formal banks or financial institutions, whereas 68 per cent had limited chance for savings.
Although all the earnings were spent on daily consumption, health care, child education, lifestyle and social programmes, 48 per cent managed to invest.
The investment was not made in any business but in house building (38 per cent), land purchase (12 per cent) and local business (4.0 per cent).
A majority of migrants went abroad under the low-skilled category, for which their monthly wage range was between Tk 16,000 and Tk 30,000.
The study recommended strengthening migration monitoring to prevent human trafficking under the umbrella of migration and control migration cost.
Apart from wage-earners' welfare funds, it said, the government needs to allocate special funds for the welfare of migrants and their family members, especially for their children's higher education.
More activities are needed at grass-roots level to educate the migrant community on creating emergency funds, productive investment of remittance and enterprise development. The study also sought laxity in criteria and documentation to receive soft loans from Probashi Kallyan Bank (PKB).
BOMSA adviser Aminul Hoque Tushar presented the findings where BOMSA director Farida Yeasmin, among others, spoke during the workshop.
Addressing the event, PKB managing director Md Zahidul Haque said they were working for giving financial support to migrant workers. "The bank has no funding problem and it wants to bring more workers under loan facilities," he cited.
In the meantime, the bank has made flexible some terms and conditions for reintegration loans. If needed, Mr Haque said, they would bring more changes in the loan disbursement process.
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