3
3
2020, only 21,934 women migrated in comparison. Overall, roughly 485,893 Bangladeshi migrant workers
4
were reported as having remigrated during 2021.
Recent developments include efforts by countries of destination in addressing wage theft and labour
complaints. Some countries of destinations such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Thailand, Singapore, and
Australia have taken various degrees of actions, from setting up a multi-ministry task force and relevant
laws, to courts ordering unpaid wages to be compensated to migrant workers. These reforms were based
upon countries of destination needs to open their economies and countries of origin needs for markets of
migrant labour demand – fulfilled through bilateral agreements and other coordination mechanisms.
However, there were not any significant coordination plans between countries to address systemic issues
of temporary labour migration that were exposed during the pandemic. Despite the scale and
extraordinary nature of the issues raised by the pandemic, there were barely any coordinated measures to
organise extraordinary responses. For instance, countries did not institute specialised, necessary, simple
procedures to ensure the monitoring and documentation of abuses experienced by migrant workers
before they are repatriated, therefore workers returned home without any means to express their
grievances, including issues of wage theft.
Below are some of the recent developments seen with respect to wage theft in countries of origin and
destination.
Policy Changes
a. Saudi Arabia
i. The new Labour Law is reported to allow for the transfer of the services of expatriate workers
who want to switch jobs without the consent of their employers who fail to attend court sessions
set for the amicable settlement of disputes. The ministry also grants work permit for the purpose
5
of issuing final exit if residency visa (Iqama) is expired.
ii. Saudi Arabia also enacted a new regulation that allowed employers to unilaterally cut workers
hours and wages for six months in 2021. (Migrant-Rights.org, 2021)
b. United Arab Emirates
i. In the UAE, reports indicate that main and sub-contractors are shedding workforce due to losses,
are without funds to pay off the gratuity, even among bigger construction firms and down the
supply chain. Several workers face non-payment of wages and then termination without gratuity.
As per the current laws, a company should cancel an employee’s visa within a month or two and
settle their end-of-service benefits on resignation/termination. Lawyers urged workers to not
3
‘40 thousand Bangladesh women workers went abroad with jobs in 2020’. Retrieved 3 October 2021,
from https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/trade/40-thousand-bangladesh-women-workers-went-abroadwith-jobs-in-2020-1633230775
4
'Migration of Bangladeshi expats likely increased 1.5 times in 2021'. (2021). Retrieved 30 December 2021
from https://www.thedailystar.net/nrb/migration/news/migration-bangladeshi-expats-expected-rise-15times-2022-2928991
5
Khitam Al Amir, S. (2020). Saudi Arabia: 31m riyals in dues settled for heirs of deceased expat workers.
Retrieved 2 December 2020, from https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/saudi/saudi-arabia-31m-riyals-in-duessettled-for-heirs-of-deceased-expat-workers-1.75626064
Disclaimer: The figures, statistics within the report are based upon the limited documentation of cases
submitted to the JFWT platform or separately to MFA. It does not intend to implicate any country,
government, industry, employer, etc.