'Informal aspects' of Bangladeshi 'Migration Industry' : Bangladeshi migration experts' perspective on migration to the EU
Abstract
Emigration and financial remittances from abroad play a crucial role in the economy of Bangladesh. Almost three quarters of a million migrant workers officially emigrated in 2018, mainly to the Middle East and East Asian countries.
The statistics of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training of the Government of Bangladesh show negligible figures of labour migration to the EU. At the same time, however, financial remittances received every year from the EU countries remain high.
What then, is the nature of Bangladeshi migration to Europe? I argue that migration flow from Bangladesh to Europe, both undocumented and documented, is permanent and to some extent independent of governmental institutions and state policies since it is primarily organised through informal channels and migrant networks. While a regulated system of immigrant workers' recruitment to Europe remains underdeveloped, the informal sector of the migration industry is growing.
In this presentation, I will focus on informal aspects of Bangladeshi migration industry on the basis of twenty interviews I conducted in Bangladesh as well as the Czech Republic, largely with experts but also with other actors of the migration process.