DHAKA, Sept 23, (BSS) – Foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen today said Saudi Arabia has decided to renew expired visas and extend iqama (work permit) of Bangladeshi expatriate workers, those were stuck here due to the COVID-19 pandemic, following a request made by Dhaka on Tuesday.
“The Saudi authority will keep Bangladesh workers’ iqama valid for 24 more days and if required they will extend it more,” he told BSS this evening.
The foreign minister said Bangladesh Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Dr Mohammad Javed Patwary conveyed the positive decision of the Saudi government to him over phone this evening.
He said visa renewal process for those whose valid visas have already been expired amid the pandemic will be started here from Sunday.
The foreign minister said that the Saudi civil aviation authority had given landing permission to Biman Bangladesh Airlines to carry back the stranded Bangladeshi expatriate workers from here to Saudi Arabia.
Bangladesh Civil Aviation Authority has already given approval to Saudi Arabian airlines to operate flight from Dhaka as many as they can to ensure return of the Bangladeshi expatriate workers.
Earlier, in the afternoon after holding an inter-ministerial meeting with expatriates’ welfare and civil aviation ministries, Momen told reporters that on Tuesday Bangladesh has requested Saudi Arabia to extend tenures of valid visas and iqama of expatriate Bangladeshi workers.
He said they were working sincerely to resolve the problem as “Our Prime Minister (Sheikh Hasina) never wants expatriates to suffer”.
The Saudi government has so far extended the validity of Iqama for Bangladesh citizens, who got stuck here due to COVID-19, thrice and the last one was supposed to be expired on September 30.
Huge numbers of expatriate Bangladeshi workers, who came here to visit their families before the outbreak of coronavirus, have been stuck in the country due to flight suspension following the global lockdown.