Illegal residents visit embassy, seeking freedom

Melvin Mendonca/DTNN
melvin@dt.bh

Bangladeshi national Mominul (name changed) landed in Bahrain about five years back, in search of greener pastures. But reaching this Arabian land was not a cakewalk for him, as he had to spend an awful lot of money to get the visa. He had to borrow thousands of Bangla Takas in order to get the visa, which, he later realized that a ‘free’ visa. After coming to Bahrain, he had to find a job after submitting his passport to his sponsor.

Finally, like many of his compatriots, he began working as a car washer in a busy area of Manama. It took almost a year for him to settle the money he had borrowed from his friends and relatives.

Though the earnings were less, all was well for almost two years. But things worsened when he had to renew his visa. His sponsor asked for more money to do so. But Mominul could not pay the money demanded by his sponsor due to his limited earnings. On the other hand, his sponsor refused to hand over the passport to Mominul. Finally, the Bangla national gained the tag ‘illegal resident.’ He neither could work as legal worker nor could he go to his home country.

But the amnesty declared by the Bahraini government has given him a ray of hope. Yesterday, he approached the Bangladesh embassy, seeking help to go home. This is not the story of Mominul only. But hundreds of Bangladeshis, suffering like Mominul, visited their Embassy in Gufool yesterday, seeking help either to legalise their status or to return home.

One of the volunteers, who was assisting the illegal residents at the embassy, said that many Bangladeshis started visiting the embassy on the first day of the amnesty period in order to make use of the six-month long amnesty. He sad that about four to five volunteers at the embassy had been helping the illegal residents, so that they could submit their request to the embassy.

The volunteer also said that many Bangladeshis are approaching the immigration authorities directly, while others who need assistance are visiting the embassy.

According to the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA), around 61,000 workers are staying illegally in Bahrain. Bangladeshi community is the biggest beneficiary of amnesty as a major portion of illegal residents belong to this community. Bangladesh ambassador Major General K M Mominur Rahman last year stated that, out of 115,000 Bangladeshis in Bahrain, 36572 were staying illegally in the Kingdom.