DHAKA: The Bangladesh Embassy will hold job fairs in three cities, the embassy announced in Riyadh on Wednesday.

A senior official from the Bangladesh Embassy said the fairs are to be held in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam.

“We are working out the details and awaiting permission from authorities to hold the events to help our countrymen to benefit from this program,” he said.

Under the ongoing amnesty, 255,000 Bangladesh expatriates have obtained their legal documents after they were processed at missions in Riyadh and Jeddah.

The documents include replacement passports, renewed passports, exit passes and travel permits. A large contingent of officers from Dhaka were pressed into service to assist the missions’ officials in Riyadh and Jeddah to complete their task in time.

“Now those officers have left and we are working with our staff from the missions,” he said.

Recalling the last two similar fairs held in Jeddah and Riyadh, the diplomat said that they yielded good results since thousands of Bangladeshis found jobs.

Representatives from some 50 Riyadh-based companies and a similar number from Jeddah were present to pick their prospective employees.

“We played a mediation role between the employers and the employees and we provided the platform for job negotiations,” the official said, describing the events as highly successful.

The job categories that were negotiated at the fair included office assistants, plumbers, drivers, electricians and cleaners.

“The two parties discussed the salaries for the respective jobs, the mode of Iqama transfer and regularization of residence status,” he said, adding that the fair created enthusiasm among both the Saudi employers and Bangladesh workers.

In addition to the consular services offered in Riyadh, the Bangladesh Embassy also organized consular services in Jubail, Al-Ahsa, Dammam, Al Jouf , Saqaka and Al-Qassim.

On Sept.13, consular services will be held in Dammam and Hafr Al-Batin to help the country’s expatriates, he said.

The Jeddah consulate also offered consular services in Khamis Mushayt, Jazan, Najran, Tabuk, Yanbu, Al-Baha and Madinah.

The amnesty, declared on May 10, allows irregular foreign workers to have their status legalized or return home without facing any penalty. The amnesty is to end on Nov. 3.

The government has warned that residents staying illegally in the Kingdom after the amnesty period will be subject to a penalty of SR 100,000 and jail term for two years.

Source: Arab News
BDST: 0933 HRS, AUG 29, 2013
RS/BSK