Australia will hire skilled workers and professionals from Bangladesh in different trades, paving the way for creating opportunities for Bangladeshi jobseekers in that country.
So far Bangladesh has received demand for 300 skilled workers and professionals from Australian employers.
Of them, at least seven are expected to fly for that country this year. Two will be employed as nurses, four will be employed with construction jobs such as mason, plumber and welder and one as chef.
They will go to that country on a four-year work contract, and can apply for permanent residence after two years. They can also take their families with them.
Their monthly salary will be about Tk 400,000 while they will pay Tk60,000 as migration expenses.
Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Limited (BOESL), the only state-owned recruitment agency, will send the manpower to the job destination country.
Officials close to the development said Australia has a large demand of manpower for its different sectors at the present time. Bangladesh has a great opportunity to catch up it to help increase quality jobs.
"But we have a shortage of the kind of experienced candidates we need for these jobs," said Noman Chowdhury, assistant general manager (business promotion) of the BOESL.
For example, IELTS score should be 7.0 for nurse and 5.5 for welders and plumbers.
They also should have good working skills. The candidates they get have experience of working abroad. Due to these reasons, they cannot send workers despite the demand.
"But we are optimistic; we will get such skilled workers gradually," he added.
However, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) last year called for nearly doubling the skilled migration programme to secure Australia's economy in the post-pandemic period.
They recommended that the federal government give visas to 0.2 million skilled migrants each year.
