Abu Dhabi: Domestic workers from Bangladesh are in demand in the UAE now, a top Bangladeshi diplomat told Gulf News.
The streamlined mechanism for the recruitment of Bangladeshi housemaids will prove helpful for their employers in the UAE, said Mohammad Imran, Bangladesh’s Ambassador to the UAE.
Bangladesh’s Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Amala, a prominent recruitment agency in the UAE, during Bangladesh Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina’s UAE visit in October 2014, he said.
Amala brings domestic help under their sponsorship and makes separate agreements with prospective employers in the UAE, which marks a new mechanism in ensuring the safety and welfare of workers, the envoy said.
Apart from Amala, 15 other recruitment agencies in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain have also been authorised for the recruitment of Bangladeshi housemaids in the UAE, he said.
The Bangladesh government has fixed Dh900 as the minimum monthly salary for housemaids. BMET gives a 21-day pre-departure training to all domestic workers.
The embassy does not have the exact number of Bangladeshi housemaids in the UAE. However, market sources told Gulf News that they estimate it at 50,000 and this number could go up to 100,000. Recruitment agents said it costs between Dh6,000 and Dh7,000 to recruit a Bangladeshi domestic help.
