Saudi returnees’ struggle to fly back to the Gulf country

The crisis of the Saudi returnees is yet to resolve. Many of them are not well informed about the proper timing of token distribution for collecting tickets. On the other hand, many of the returnees, whose visas have expired, are not clear about how to renew their visas.

The visa of Md Shamim, a migrant worker from Gazipur, expired on June 22 this year. 

He said, "I had to go to Biman Bangladesh Airlines office in Motijheel for the last two days. Later, I was informed that the returnees, whose visas had expired, would not get tickets. If we got the information in proper way, many of us would not gather there." 

He said many of them did not know how to renew visas. 

They went to Saudi embassy and later the authorities concerned said that their visas had to be renewed by 18 authorised visa processing agencies, Shamim added.

Besides, some returnees claimed that they were not getting tickets according to the received tokens. 

Md Zaman, another migrant worker, said, "I got the token from Saudi Airlines on September 21. But I have not got my ticket as yet."

Meanwhile, hundreds of returnees gathered in front of Saudi Airlines office in Karwan Bazar around 8:00 am today (Monday).

Many of them came to collect tickets while many others came with the hope of getting tokens. 

Khandakar Selim Shahriar, sub-inspector and duty officer of Hatirjheel Police Station, said a chaotic situation was created there. 

The returnees are worried for tickets as there is less number of flights available than the number of Saudi bound migrant workers. 

More than one lakh Bangladeshi migrants got stranded in the country amid Covid-19 when they came home to enjoy their leave. Around 80 percent of them are from Saudi Arabia, according to Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies.