How Ami Probashi platform could be better utilised to ease migration, bypassing middlemen | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Get the Paper
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Friday
July 25, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Get the Paper
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
FRIDAY, JULY 25, 2025
How Ami Probashi platform could be better utilised to ease migration, bypassing middlemen

Bangladesh

Kamran Siddiqui
05 September, 2024, 09:05 am
Last modified: 05 September, 2024, 03:52 pm

Related News

  • No scope for irregularities in Malaysia labour recruitment: Lutfey Siddiqi
  • 33 Bangladeshi migrant workers sue Malaysian govt, recruiter over alleged job scam
  • Despite laws and pledges, migrant workers remain prey to exploitation
  • How Bangladeshi workers lost $1.3b in remittance fees, exchange rate volatility in 2024
  • Mika Securities launches 'Amar Biniyog' trading app for investors

How Ami Probashi platform could be better utilised to ease migration, bypassing middlemen

Kamran Siddiqui
05 September, 2024, 09:05 am
Last modified: 05 September, 2024, 03:52 pm
Infograph: TBS
Infograph: TBS

Bangladesh's Ami Probashi app has a vast database to assist both skilled and unskilled workers seeking overseas employment but despite its potential to ease migration-related hardships, the aspiring migrant database and other associated products remain underutilised.

Sector insiders said that recruiting agencies frequently avoid using the database, as they prefer to maximise profits through higher migration fees.

Ami Probashi operates an advanced recruitment management system that connects millions of aspiring migrant workers with potential employers. Through the platform and app, users can easily be selected, interviewed online, and communicated with directly.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

The app hosts a diverse pool of skilled migrants who are eager to find legitimate job opportunities and avoid the expenses often associated with middlemen in the recruitment process.

Stakeholders have long advocated for such a database and recruitment system to streamline the migration process, reduce fraud, and lower costs.

Currently, many Bangladeshi migrant workers face high expenses for low-wage jobs abroad, largely due to bureaucratic hurdles, middlemen, and recruiting agencies.

Launched in mid-2020, the Ami Probashi app aims to address these issues by offering innovative technological solutions in collaboration with the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment and the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET).

Shakirul Islam, chairman of the Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program (OKUP), told TBS, "We have long advocated for a database for aspiring migrants, but recruiting agencies have shown little interest in it."

"Now that a database exists, agencies should be mandated to recruit from it, which would help curb the exploitation by middlemen," he added.

The impact of the Ami Probashi app is impressive, with over 25 lakh BMET registrations completed in just two years.

The number of app users is now 55 lakh. Nearly 85% of around 2,500 recruiting agencies in the country are now using the digital platform for BMET clearance cards.

However, only 50 agencies regularly use the Ami Probashi database to choose workers.

Shamim Ahmed Chowdhury Noman, former general secretary of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies, told TBS that the database remains underutilised for various reasons. "Many people are unaware of its existence, and often, the specific type or number of workers we require is not always available in the database."

He further noted, "Additionally, it shouldn't be mandatory to send workers for fixed costs. Instead, the system should be more flexible, with transactions facilitated through banking channels."

Meanwhile, the app authority is going to launch a direct foreign recruitment process through the portal in the next month so that foreign employers can select workers from the database via a recruitment agency. 

"We have the data, we have the people, and we have the system to recruit Bangladeshi workers that never used to exist before. A foreign company doesn't know how to recruit from Bangladesh. We have made a system through which they can recruit safely but we need the help of the government to promote this product internationally," Tarique e Haque, founder and chairman, Ami Probashi Ltd, told The Business Standard.

"The government should support Ami Probashi so that foreign employers can directly select general or skilled candidates. We need more government support for upskilling workers. For instance, the aspirant migrants who complete level 2 in his English test, how can we facilitate them to reach level 3?" he added.

He urged the authorities concerned to start the online attestation system of job demand letters at Bangladesh embassies abroad.

How Ami Probashi reduced migration time

In the past, Bangladeshi migrant workers had to manually complete each step of the government's migration process in person at various offices. This often required taking a day off work and, even after securing a job, running around after middlemen just to complete these government processes.

Since the launch of the Ami Probashi app along with a portal, all of these government services are now available online.

The main product is the expatriates' welfare ministry's back-end software, which is now used to approve every file and application online.

What used to take a month to complete pre-departure orientation now only takes three days using Ami Probashi. BMET registration used to take four or five days, but now it can be done in a couple of hours.

In the past, it would take at least two months for one to go abroad after finding a job. Now it can be done in 20 days. The app has led to a significant reduction in migration processing times.

How the app reduced migration costs

Previously, if people wanted to go abroad on their own, there was no scope for them to get their own smart immigration clearance cards issued by the BMET. That is why they had to go to a recruiting agency.

The app authority claimed that aspirant migrants previously had to pay the agencies Tk40,000-Tk50,000 to obtain the cards. The practice ceased after the introduction of Ami Probashi. 

If a worker somehow manages to arrange a visa on his or her own, he or she no longer has to rely on anyone else for immigration clearance cards.

Now, all prospective migrants are using the digital platform, each using one feature or more. Even if someone doesn't use any feature, he or she is obtaining the QR code from Ami Probashi for a clearance card. The fact that the code is available free of cost is saving users money here.

The people who have obtained visas and jobs on their own now have the opportunity to handle the processing themselves, which was previously unheard of. This saves them Tk40,000 to Tk50,000.

Top News

Ami Probashi / app / migrant worker

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Hasina and Taposh in an event in 2020. Photo: Collected
    Al Jazeera investigation: Hasina, in call with Taposh, talks using helicopter to shoot, crush protesters in July uprising
  • Former Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque being produced before the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court  on 24 July 2025. Photo: TBS
    Ex-CJ Khairul sent to jail over July Uprising murder case
  • Representational image. Photo: Collected
    Tariff talks: Bangladesh, US set for crucial virtual meeting on 29 July

MOST VIEWED

  • Photo: Collected
    Bangladeshi man jailed for life in UK for murdering wife in front of their baby
  • Ctg port authority halts contractor recruitment for Kamalapur ICD operations for two months
    Ctg port authority halts contractor recruitment for Kamalapur ICD operations for two months
  • Fire at Cosmo School in Mirpur on 23 July 2025. Photo: TBS
    Fire breaks out at Cosmo School in Mirpur following generator explosion
  • Representational image. File Photo: Rajib Dhar/TBS
    Debate arises as edu adviser says postponed HSC exams of 22 and 24 July will be held on same day
  • BB issues dress code for all, discourages short-sleeved or length dresses, leggings for female staff
    BB issues dress code for all, discourages short-sleeved or length dresses, leggings for female staff
  • Infographics: TBS
    Stay orders won’t shield defaulters: BB governor 

Related News

  • No scope for irregularities in Malaysia labour recruitment: Lutfey Siddiqi
  • 33 Bangladeshi migrant workers sue Malaysian govt, recruiter over alleged job scam
  • Despite laws and pledges, migrant workers remain prey to exploitation
  • How Bangladeshi workers lost $1.3b in remittance fees, exchange rate volatility in 2024
  • Mika Securities launches 'Amar Biniyog' trading app for investors

Features

Illustration: TBS

The future of medicine: How innovations will catalyse quantum leaps in healthcare

2h | The Big Picture
Photo: Collected

24 July: More than 1400 arrested, 3 missing coordinators found

23h | Panorama
Photo: Mehedi Hasan/TBS

Aggrieved nation left with questions as citizens rally to help at burn institute

2d | Panorama
Photo: Mehedi Hasan/TBS

Mourning turns into outrage as Milestone students seek truth and justice

2d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

There are many more examples of trials of Chief Justices in the world.

There are many more examples of trials of Chief Justices in the world.

36m | TBS Today
Why is there a massive conflict between Thailand and Cambodia?

Why is there a massive conflict between Thailand and Cambodia?

51m | TBS News Updates
Former Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque in prison

Former Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque in prison

1h | TBS Today
The Nvidia Chip Deal Trades Away the United States’ AI Advantage

The Nvidia Chip Deal Trades Away the United States’ AI Advantage

1h | Videos
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net