Successful manpower recruiters from now on will enjoy Commercially Important Person (CIP) status for outstanding contribution to overseas employment-the second-largest foreign-currency earner for Bangladesh.
The Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment issued a policy to this effect through a gazette dated August 25, 2021.
"Every calendar year 20 manpower-recruiting agents will be selected as CIPs on the basis of evaluating their previous two years' activities," it is stated in the policy.
Three of them will be reserved for women entrepreneurs.
However, manpower recruiters said, they had demanded for long the CIP status.
The government introduced an earlier CIP card for manpower-recruiting agencies but it remained suspended since 1997, they also added.
According to Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA), currently about 1800 manpower recruiters are operating their business in the country.
Overseas-employment sector is the country's 2nd-largest remittance earner after merchandise exports.
In the fiscal year 2020-21, Bangladeshis staying abroad, especially the expatriate workers, sent home a record US$ 24.78 billion as remittances.
And recruiting agencies play a vital role in helping tens of thousands of Bangladeshis find jobs abroad every year.
