5,891 Bangladeshi expats moved to S Korea in 2022

A record number of 5,891 Bangladeshis moved to South Korea, which is considered a popular preferred destination for the country's expatriate workers, in 2022.

In 2022, the low and medium skilled workers from the country were admitted to South Korea through its Employment Permit System (EPS) programme.

The first batch of this year's expatriate workers is slated to leave for South Korea on 3 January from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport via chartered flights operated by a Korean air company.

Among the 92 Bangladesh workers who are leaving at midnight, 69 are new and 23 re-admitted workers. It is expected that around 100 to 120 expat workers are to be admitted to South Korea every week this year, said a press release.

After almost one and a half year suspension of admitting foreign EPS workers due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the South Kore n government resumed taking the ESP workers in December 2021.

From 2008 to 2022, a total of 28,697 Bangladesh workers were admitted there through the EPS.

According to the media release, the country  is a preferred destination for Bangladeshi expats as they can earn a minimum of $1,420 monthly, the legally guaranteed minimum wage of South Korea . The monthly salary can be over $2,000 even to $3,000 when overtime payment is combined.

Moreover, South Korea encourages foreign workers to subscribe to four types of social security insurances, including accident insurance for foreign workers. From 2007 to 2022, there were about 320 workers who returned to Bangladesh without receiving the departure guarantee insurance and airfare insurance which were tantamount to severance payments ranging from Tk30,000 to Tk400,000  per person.

The country's government, through the capital's EPS Center, made an active effort to identify the location and contact information of returned Bangladeshi workers without receiving the insurance payment through the Overseas Employment and Expatriates' Welfare Ministry with a view to returning this money to the workers. In case the worker who should receive the insurance money is dead, his/her spouse, children, or parents can receive it when appropriate documents can be presented.