The oil-rich country in the Middle East has launched e-visa or electronic visa from May 1 to facilitate the journey to Saudi Arabia for the citizens of Bangladesh. After the launch of the new e-visa system of Saudi Arabia, this program was started with Bangladesh among the different countries of the world. Saudi Ambassador to Dhaka Isa Bin Yusuf Al Duhailan gave this information in a press conference at his office on Monday afternoon.
The Saudi ambassador said that the e-visa for the pilgrims of the holy Hajj had been in operation for a year. From now on, if you want to go to Saudi Arabia for all kinds of activities including work, travel and stay, e-visa has been launched in full swing instead of paper visa. Saudi Arabia wants to automate the entire visa process. It is hoped that this will make the visa process easier.
Ambassador Isa bin Yusuf Al Duhailan said that e-Visas are cost-effective and easier, adding that visa stickers are costly and prone to errors. As a result of the introduction of e-visa, visas will be printed on four-size paper from now on. There will be a barcode on the bottom of the paper. The barcode will contain all the information of the person who got the visa. The ambassador believes that workers, employers, medical center staff and others will benefit from the new system.
The ambassador said that earlier the information on the visa sticker was written only in Arabic. But after the launch of e-Visa, it will be in both Arabic and English languages.
As a result, Bangladeshis can easily understand how many days the visa is for and in which category the applicant got the visa.
Noting that the workers, employers and authorities are in trouble due to the violence of the brokers, the Saudi ambassador said that the brokers collect money by falsely luring the workers. But neither the worker nor the employer is responsible for this; Rather, the broker class is responsible for this.
The ambassador requested manpower exporters to make workers aware of their rights before traveling to Saudi Arabia. He said that the workers should know before leaving, how much their salary is and where and how they will work.
Isa bin Yusuf Al Duhailan said, "Many times, workers are cheated. They are told that the Saudi embassy takes money. I want to say, such allegations are absolutely false.
Noting that no free visa is given in Saudi Arabia at the moment, the ambassador said that visas are given to workers for specific work. In addition, the duration of the worker visa is two years.
Shahidul Alam, director general of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) said in a press conference that the workers who go to Saudi Arabia from Bangladesh cannot read Arabic. They do not really understand about the visa from the agency, it is a kind of visa. For that reason, English or Bengali language in the visa will be beneficial.