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Bangladeshis held in Kuwait for illegal visa trade

Staff Correspondent
Kuwaiti authorities recently arrested some Bangladeshis accused of illegally trading in Kuwaiti visas after the Bangladeshi embassy provided information to local authorities about their activities, The Arab Times Online reported on Sunday.
The number of Bangladeshis arrested however could not be ascertained.
Meanwhile the Kuwaiti Society for the Development of Democracy (KSDD) has claimed that some Kuwaiti officials facilitate this
illegal trade worth about three billion dollars annually, another report from Arab Times Online said.
The KSDD has also called for abolishing the "sponsorship system" saying that it was one of the main causes that led to the unjust treatment of foreign workers in the country.
The visa trade is buying of visas from employers and selling those to foreign workers at higher prices, illegally, which increases the cost of getting an overseas job for a worker.
A Bangladesh embassy official told the Arab Times that 'some' Bangladeshi nationals involved in other criminal activities as prostitution, gambling, illegal internet telephony have also been arrested on the basis of information provided by the embassy.
He, however, was unable to say exactly how many Bangladeshis have been arrested since the campaign begem two months ago.
The official said that some cleaning companies are also involved in the shady visa trade and that they charge Bangladeshi workers as high as Kuwaiti Dinar (KD) 1,200 per work visa and then pay them a paltry salary of Kuwaiti Dinar (KD) 20 per month.
"Most of these workers are not aware when they leave Bangladesh that they will be working for such low wages, “ the official added saying that the embassy was sharing information about such unscrupulous activities with relevant authorities and that this was bringing some action from the Kuwaiti side.
The official however elucidated the objective of the campaign against illegal practices saying, “We
do not want the image of Bangladesh to be sullied by only a handful of our nationals.”
Kuwait employs some 241,000 Bangladeshis many of whom are working in cleaning companies They had recently demonstrated over low wages or irregular payment ofsalaries.
At least 1129 workers have also been deported following the strikes in Kuwait in late July. Many upon their arrival home in Bangladesh claimed that they did not take part in the strikes, but were still beaten up, arrested and deported.
The embassy is in the process of establishing a database of Bangladeshi nationals residing in Kuwait and has sought records of Bangladeshi criminals from the local authorities so as to enable the Bangladeshi government to take action against them.
The KSDD's callfor abolishingthe "sponsorship system" comes at a time when many workers in Kuwait have staged noisy protests against unfair treatment and payments.
Under the current system, which applies in all the oil-rich Gulf States, the movement and freedom of
foreign workers are considerably restricted, putting them at the mercy of employers.
“We call for abolishing the sponsor system and adopting a system similar to the ones in more developed countries," KSDD head Nasser al-Abdali said at a news conference, according to the ArabTimes report.
“The only people who benefit from the sponsor system are the visa traders who use their influence to maintain the status quo,” hesaid.
He termed the sponsorship system akin to slavery.
Influential people are accused of charging expatriates large sums to have their residence permits renewed every year in Kuwait Kuwait has 2.4 million foreign workers in contrast to its just over a millioncitizens.
More than two-thirds of these foreign workers are from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Philippines.
Abdali said the minimum monthly wage for foreign cleaning workers at KD 40 was very minimum and demanded that it be raised to at least KD 100 (375 dollars).