There are costs associated to the various phases of migration primarily during the pre-departure phase. The general rules are that the costs of the following documents are borne by you as prospective migrant: passport, certification of skills and training, license certificates, medical examinations, security or police clearance, recruitment or placement fee and welfare fund. Kindly note as well of those who are exempt from the placement of the recruitment fee such as the migrant domestic worker and seafarers.
On the other hand, these costs are borne either by the recruitment agency or the employer: visa, work permit, transportation to the work site, insurance and related processing fees with the government.
If you are directly hired, you will be responsible for paying all the costs. You may, however, check with your employer which of the costs are you allowed to reimburse.
Be cautious of salary deduction and passing on the costs or funds transferability to the migrants by the recruitment agency. A recruitment agency has to pay some fees to the government in order to process the employment. These are part of their roles and responsibilities and the costs for such is included in the placement fee. Therefore, they are not authorised to pass these costs unto the migrants. Sometimes, they are “hidden” fees and they are added up to the authorised fees. Hidden fees are not allowed.
See sample costs below.
| Pre-departure Stage | |||||
| Requirements* | Approximate costs in local currency** | Costs in USD | Who is responsible for payment? As a general rule | Responsible agency(ies) in processing, documenting or monitoring | Remarks |
| 1. Passport | 3,500 taka (BDT) (48 pages for 5 years validity) | $41-59 | Migrant worker | Department of Immigration & Passports under the Ministry of Home Affairs | |
| 5000 taka (BDT) 48 pages for 10 years | |||||
| 5000 taka (BDT) 64 pages for 5 years | |||||
| 2. Birth certificate | 500 taka (BDT) | $10 | Migrant worker | Local Government Division | |
| 3. Marriage certificate | |||||
| 4. Police clearance or related documents | 500 taka (BDT) | $5-10 | Migrant worker | Bangladesh Police under Ministry of Home Affairs | |
| 5. Pre-Departure training cost | 200 taka (BDT) |
$ 2.5 | Migrant worker | Technical Training Centre under Buero of Manpower, Employment and Training | |
| 6. Online Registration fee | 200 taka (BDT) | $ 2.5 | Migrant worker | DEMO under Buero of Manpower, Employment and Training | |
| 7. Medical or health examinations | 5800- 6000 taka (BDT) | $68-70 | Migrant worker | GAMCA under Ministry of Health | Unless employer requires additional medical examinations beyond the basic requirements, employer pay |
| 8. Welfare scheme/plan membership fee (e.g. Membership with wage earners welfare Board) | 3,500 taka (BDT) | $42 | Migrant worker | Wage earners welfare board under Ministry of Expatriates, Welfare and overseas employment | |
| 9. Insurance fees (medical, life, property and other insurance) | The Policy One will be of Tk 2 lakh with a premium of Tk 990 and the Policy Two of Tk 5 lakh with a premium of Tk 2,475 | $2355 to 5888 total amounts of insurance. $11.66 to 29.15 per premium |
Migrant Worker | Bangladesh Bima corporation under Ministry of Finance | |
| 10. Travel tax for foreign nationals (if required) | 1,800-2500 taka (BDT) | $12-30 | Employer | Ministry of civil aviation and Tourism | Usually included with air ticket |
| 11. Embarkation fee | 500 taka (BDT) | $6 | Migrant | Ministry of civil aviation and Tourism | |
*The cost of the list is fixed rate of Government of Bangladesh.
**Exchange rate as of 7June, 2020 is 1USD =84.94 taka (BDT)
***These are generic government agencies in charge of the various requirements. There might be specific names within each country.
