Italy vows to speed up visa process for BD workers
Diplomatic Correspondent :
Italy has assured that it will expedite visa processing for Bangladeshi workers, addressing long-standing delays. However, stakeholders have urged the Italian authorities to take concrete steps to resolve the issue permanently, ensuring smoother migration and employment opportunities.
Concerned stakeholders said that when the visas are not processed within a short time needed for the processing of the visa, it creates problems for the workers to go to that country.
“These workers are even failing to try for other countries to work as their visas are pending in the Italian Embassy in Dhaka,” Joint Secretary General of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) Ali Haidar told the New Nation on Wednesday.
Asked about the causes of the delay, he said, “So far I know the visa applicants are not getting visas for more than one year. Even the Embassy in Dhaka does not tell the exact reason for the delay.”
He further stated that Italy is a major destination for Bangladeshi workers for different lucrative offers and a major source for remittance which would ultimately inject the country’s foreign reserve.
“We urge the Italian government to resolve the situation as a friendly country,” he said.
Meanwhile, Vice Minister for Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy, Maria Tripodi assured Bangladesh that they would expedite the process for issuing the long-pending visa applications of Bangladeshi workers.
She gave her words while meeting with the Foreign Adviser to the Interim government Md Touhid Hossain at the ministry on Wednesday.
Both sides also commended the immense contribution of the Bangladeshi diaspora in Italy as these people are contributing to the economy of both countries.
Sources said that currently Italy is hosting approximately 1,45,000 registered and some two lakh unregistered Bangladeshi workers.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on June last year complained about the buying and selling of Italian work visas and corruption in Bangladesh.
The head of the government cited that Bangladesh tops the list for illegal immigration to Italy according to the data collected from January to May 2024.
“Some organised criminal groups in Bangladesh and Italy create anonymous companies that exist only on paper,” she added.
Italy’s Ministry of Home Affairs conducted a survey and found that Bangladeshi citizens entered Italy both legally and illegally in 2024. In the first five months of that year, most Bangladeshis entered illegally by crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
Bangladeshis accounted for 45.4 per cent of the total foreign workers entering the European country in 2022. And in 2024, at least 51.1 per cent of the workers entering Italy are Bangladeshi.
At that time the Italian ambassador to Dhaka, Antonio Alessandro, has also advised Bangladeshi workers to only trust ‘reliable agencies’ while applying for work visas.
Meanwhile, during the talks between Maria Tripodi and Touhid Hossain, both sides prioritized the need for expanding legal migration pathways while affirming joint efforts to tackle irregular migration, human trafficking and migrant exploitation.
Foreign Ministry said that during this time the visiting Italian Vice-Minister assured the foreign adviser to expedite the visa process for the Bangladeshi workers.
Such assurance was also given in September last year when the Italian Ambassador to Bangladesh paid a courtesy call to Meanwhile, Referring to the warm bilateral relations since 1972, Vice Minister Tripodi conveyed firm support of the Italian Government to the Interim Government of Bangladesh and appreciated its ongoing reform initiatives towards building a peaceful Bangladesh.
She expressed satisfaction over the trade relations between the two countries, further desired to expand cooperation, particularly in textile and defence sectors.
The Foreign Adviser welcomed the Vice Minister to Dhaka on her first visit. Based on the dynamic economic relations between Bangladesh and Italy, he opted for more Italian investment, especially in the greenfield sectors.