UAE cancels visas of up to 4,800 Bangladeshis

The United Arab Emirates has cancelled the visas of thousands of Bangladeshi nationals, leaving many unable to return to their jobs and businesses after travelling to Bangladesh, according to Bangladeshi officials and affected expatriates. According to the Daily Star newspaper, Bangladesh’s government has raised the issue with the UAE through diplomatic channels and requested a review of the cancellations. Affected Bangladeshis have given the authorities until September 22 to find a solution. The visa cancellations came without prior warning for many expatriates. Abul Kalam Azad, who had lived in the UAE for 27 years, returned to Bangladesh on April 7 and received an email on July 24 informing him that his visa had been cancelled. “No reason was mentioned in the email, ” Azad said. He was among around 350 affected Bangladeshis who attended a programme at Bangladesh’s National Press Club on September 7 to demand government intervention. Several other expatriates reported receiving cancellation notices through email or mobile messages from July onwards, while some UAE-based sponsors were also notified. One affected Bangladeshi, who said he had no criminal case or other legal issue in the UAE, said he could not understand why his visa had been cancelled. He told The Daily Star that he owned two businesses in the UAE and that his wife remained there. “I was supposed to be in Dubai today, but now we are going from door to door looking for a solution, ” he said, warning that being unable to return would leave him facing severe financial difficulties. Bangladesh began sending workers to the UAE in 1976, and the Gulf state has since become one of the main destinations for Bangladeshi expatriates. More than 1. 2 million Bangladeshis currently live in the UAE. On September 7, Bangladesh’s State Minister for Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Nurul Haque Nur said his ministry and the foreign ministry were aware that the visas of around 4, 000 Bangladeshis had been cancelled. “Many of them have businesses and shops there. Efforts are underway to resolve the matter diplomatically, ” he said in a Facebook post. The number of affected Bangladeshis later rose to around 4, 800, according to ministry sources. At the September 7 meeting, affected expatriates presented a five-point set of demands, including rehabilitation and financial support until the issue is resolved. They sought monthly assistance of Tk15, 000-20, 000 for affected migrants and their families and urged the government to arrange employment in other countries if they were unable to return to the UAE. They also called for high-level diplomatic engagement with Abu Dhabi to enable affected expatriates to return to their previous jobs and businesses. MS Shekil Chowdhury, chairman of the Centre for Non Resident Bangladeshi, said the UAE had tightened scrutiny amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. He said authorities were examining procedural issues more closely, including late visa renewals and documentation problems. Social media activity and other matters deemed potential security concerns were also coming under greater scrutiny, he said. Chowdhury stressed that he was not suggesting these factors were directly responsible for the visa cancellations, but said the wider geopolitical situation appeared to be influencing the level of scrutiny. He called for greater engagement between the Bangladeshi and UAE governments to resolve the issue.

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