State Minister for Expatriates` Welfare and Overseas Employment Shofiqur Rahman Chowdhury has said Oman government has opened labour market in 12 categories, including physician, engineer, nurse and teacher, for Bangladeshi nationals and it will legalize 96,000 illegal Bangladeshi workers.
"The country also mulls over waiving fines of illegal expatriate Bangladeshis," he said.
The minister was addressing journalists after Ambassador of the Sultanate of Oman to Bangladesh Abdul Ghaffar Bin Abdul Karim Al-Bulushi paid a courtesy call on him at his office in Dhaka on Tuesday.
Shofiqur Rahman said discussion was held about dedicating a technical training center (TTC) for Oman for providing training to workers as per the demand of the country.
Though skilled manpower get visa from the country now, proposal will be placed at working committee for sending unskilled manpower as well, he said.
He said there is possibility of holding a joint working group meeting between the two countries soon.
On October 31 in 2023, Omani government imposed a temporary ban of visas for Bangladeshi nationals except for official purposes.
On Sunday, Abdul Ghaffar Bin Abdul Karim Al-Bulushi, in a meeting, clarified that a temporary ban on recruiting Bangladeshi workers is a result of a regular review by Omani authorities, emphasizing its “apolitical and temporary” nature.
He also said the issue, currently under a review process by an inter-ministerial committee, is expected to be resolved soon through effective cooperation and coordination between both sides.
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