Home ministry urge foreigners working illegally to acquire documents by Jan 31

The Ministry of Home Affairs in a circular on Thursday requested foreign nationals who are staying or working illegally in the country to acquire the necessary documents to stay or work in Bangladesh by January 31.

Signed by the Khuda Baksh Chowdhury, special assistant to the chief adviser for home affairs, the circular mentions that many foreign nationals are illegally staying or working in Bangladesh." In this case, foreign nationals illegally staying or working in Bangladesh are requested to acquire the necessary documents to stay or work in Bangladesh by 31 January 2025," reads the circular.

"In this regard, all concerned departments or institutions are also requested to provide necessary cooperation. After this deadline, legal action will be taken against those staying illegally and the relevant institutions," the circular added.

Earlier on December 8, the Ministry of Home Affairs advised foreign nationals, who are living in Bangladesh without valid visas, to promptly take necessary action as per existing regulations, warning that the failure to do so would result in legal repercussions.

As of December 13, there are around 119,000 foreigners living in Bangladesh.

At least 30,000 foreign nationals, mostly from India and China, are currently residing in Bangladesh with expired visas, according to sources at an intelligence agency and the visa wing of the Department of Immigration and Passports.

As of December 13, around 45,000 Indians were living in Bangladesh, with most of them here in a professional capacity and the rest being students. A senior official at the intelligence agency, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Daily Star, "The visas of at least 60 percent of the Indians residing in Bangladesh have expired," suggesting that around 27,000 Indian nationals are staying with expired visas.

Chinese nationals rank second in terms of foreigners living in Bangladesh with expired visas, according to the Special Branch (SB) database.

There are about 10,500 Chinese nationals currently living in Bangladesh, and 40 percent of their visas have expired, said intelligence officials.

The database shows that around 13,000 US nationals are in the country, but many of them hold dual citizenship.

Other foreign nationals include 7,500 from the UK, 4,500 from Canada, 3,500 from Nepal, 4,500 from Russia, 4,500 from Japan, 2,500 from Sri Lanka, 2,000 from Pakistan, 2,000 from Italy, 500 from Belarus, 500 from Indonesia, 500 from Japan, 300 from Bhutan, 150 from Portugal, 100 from Finland, and 22 from Argentina. Additionally, there are 17,928 nationals from other countries, many of whom are from African nations.

Apart from Indian and Chinese nationals, around 1,017 South Korean citizens, 187 Sri Lankans, 231 UK citizens, 97 Canadians, and 461 Nigerians are staying in Bangladesh with expired visas.