New hope as Greece mulls visa centre in Dhaka to recruit overseas workers

Greece is considering opening a visa centre in Dhaka under third-party arrangement soon to recruit overseas workers, officials familiar with the matter told the Business Standard.

"Currently, Bangladeshis have no choice but to go to the Greek embassy in India to apply for visas, which is time-consuming and inconvenient. To make the process easier, we have requested the Greek government to set up a visa processing centre in Dhaka," said Bishawagith Kumar Paul, first secretary at the Bangladesh embassy in Greece.

"In response to our request, the Greece authorities have verbally informed us that they are making arrangements for issuing visas in Dhaka with the help of a third party," he told TBS.

"The official announcement to this end will come soon. After that, we will be able to say when workers can start flying to Greece."

A year has passed since Greece inked a deal to recruit at least 4,000 overseas workers annually from Bangladesh, yet no visible progress could be made due mainly to the absence of its embassy in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh and Greece, officially known as the Hellenic Republic, signed the memorandum of understanding in Dhaka on 9 February 2022 under which the European country will hire seasonal agricultural workers from Bangladesh on a 5-year temporary work permit. The range of sectors might be expanded later through discussions between the two countries, as per agreement. 

Currently, some other sectors, including tourism and hospitality, of the Hellenic Republic require foreign workers. 

Hospitality employers for 80,000 foreign workers

More than 100,000 jobs in the hospitality sector are expected to remain vacant in the tourism industry of Greece in 2023, local media reported, citing estimates from the Panhellenic Hoteliers' Association. 

For at least 80,000 washing and cleaning jobs, entrepreneurs will need foreign workers, the reports read. Hence, hospitality employers are asking for import of manpower from countries, such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Balkans at the earliest, reported the Greek daily Kathimerini.

6,000 Bangladeshis applied for legal status 

About 30,000 citizens from Bangladesh are currently living in the Hellenic Republic, according to the Bangladesh embassy in Athens, and nearly half of them are believed to have no legal status as they entered Greece illegally in hopes of a better life.

The embassy said Bangladesh and Greece have signed another agreement to facilitate the legalisation of undocumented Bangladeshis. The six-month legalisation process will come to an end by June this year. 

"We thought the number of illegal Bangladeshis would be at least 15,000. But after the commencement of the legalisation process, it seems that the number will not be that much," Bishawagith Kumar Paul told TBS.

As of 28 March this year, some 6,000 Bangladeshis have applied for legalisation through the embassy.

"Greece is used as a transit to other European countries. Hence, we anticipate that a number of illegal Bangladeshis have left Greece for other countries," he added.