The Overseas Employment Platform of the Bangladeshi ministry counts 1,132,368 emigration clearances in 2025; 22,589, or 2.0 percent, were for the 27 EU countries. Eurostat counts 29,626 first EU residence permits for work issued to citizens of Bangladesh, 7.7 percent fewer than in 2024. Portugal issued 15,992 of them in a one off count, which Eurostat marks as a break; without Portugal the permits fell 42.8 percent. On ease of entry, then size, Kuwait ranks first for citizens of Bangladesh, then Italy and Japan. The rules are tightening: two Portuguese routes closed, Romania's 2026 quota is 90,000 and a Romanian court suspended the shortage list on 10 September 2026. Our estimate is about 21,700 permits in 2026, between 13,400 and 32,900. For 2027 the range is too wide for a yearly number; the direction is flat. From 2028 we give scenarios, not forecasts: in 2031 they run from 14,700 (open routes in Portugal) to 31,600 (the clearances' pace); held flat gives 21,700.
Observed
First EU residence permits for work in 2025: down 7.7 percent, 42.8 without Portugal
29,626
Our estimate
Permits in 2026, our estimate, between 13,400 and 32,900
21,700
Our estimate
Permits a year from 2027 to 2031: the range is too wide for a yearly number
Flat
Observed
Share of the emigration clearances of 2025 that were for EU countries
2.0%
Workforce Migration Report 2026, Bangladesh3
175.7 million people, young and still growing
Bangladesh has 175.7 million people, 16.3 million more than in 2015: births outnumber deaths by about 2.6 million a year, while more people leave than arrive. Output per head is 2,597 US dollars, 18 percent of the world average. Half the population is under 27, and the number aged 15 to 64 keeps rising until 2041.
People living in Bangladesh in 2025, mid year
175,686,899
10.2 percent more than in 2015. People aged 15 to 64 were 65.7 percent of the population in 2025.
Median age in 2025
27.0years
Half the population is younger. Our estimate from the World Bank's five year age groups.
GDP per head in 2025
2,597dollars
18 percent of the world average of 14,406 US dollars.
The garment minimum wage a month, in force in 2026
91euro
12,500 taka for the entry grade, at 137.77 taka to the euro (2025 averages, World Bank and ECB). Wages are set by industry, not as one national rate; the euro figure is our estimate.
Money sent home by people working abroad, share of GDP, 2025
7.4%
Against 0.8 percent across the world.
The law and the wage
27 October 2013The overseas employment act replaces the emigration ordinance of 1982.
1 December 2023The garment minimum wage rises to 12,500 taka a month.
Sources: World Bank, World Development Indicators (population, GDP per head, personal remittances received as a share of GDP) and population estimates and projections (five year age groups, for our median age), retrieved 27 September 2026. Wage: Minimum Wages Board, Ministry of Labour and Employment, List of industries and the latest declared minimum total wage rates (row 29, garments: 12,500 taka for shop floor grades, 12,800 taka for staff grades); exchange rate: World Bank, PA.NUS.FCRF 2025 (121.92 taka per US dollar), and ECB, 2025 average (1.13 US dollars per euro); retrieved 27 September 2026. Key dates: Laws of Bangladesh, Act 48 of 2013; Minimum Wages Board, garment rates gazetted 20 December 2023.
Workforce Migration Report 2026, Bangladesh4
Births drive growth, while more leave than arrive
Births outnumber deaths by about 2.6 million a year, and net departures have halved since 2021
In 2024, births minus deaths came to +2,583,129 and net migration to −473,362, so the population grew by about 2,109,767.
Births minus deaths, thousandsNet migration, thousands
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (net migration and crude birth and death rates from UN World Population Prospects 2024, whose estimates end in 2023; later years are its projection), retrieved 27 September 2026. Births minus deaths is our arithmetic on the crude rates. Not yet published: births minus deaths for 2025.
203.94 million by 2041, the World Bank projects
Estimated to 2025, then the World Bank's projection in the lighter line.
Source: World Bank, SP.POP.TOTL (World Development Indicators); World Bank, population projection based on UN World Population Prospects 2024; retrieved 27 September 2026.
The share aged 65 and over rises to 10%
0 to 1415 to 6465 and over
Source: World Bank, population estimates and projections, retrieved 27 September 2026.
456.3 billion US dollars in 2025, and the IMF forecast to 2031
Billion US dollars at current prices of 2025IMF forecast
Real growth under each year: observed to 2025 (World Bank), the IMF forecast after. Sources: World Bank, NY.GDP.MKTP.CD (2025); IMF, World Economic Outlook April 2026; Werklist calculation: the other years are the 2025 value moved by the real growth rates; retrieved 27 September 2026.
ContentsThe countryGoing abroad for workThe outlookMethod and sourcesWorkforce Migration Report 2026, BangladeshRequest
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1.13 million clearances, two thirds for Saudi Arabia
Above one million every year since 2022, with a peak of 1,305,453 in 2023
Sources: Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, Overseas employment and remittances, 1976 to 2023 (table, total employment column) (2019); Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, Overseas employment and remittances, 1976 to 2023 (2020 to 2023); Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, Overseas employment and remittances, 2004 to May 2025 (2024); Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment, Overseas Employment Platform, Reports, country clearance, approval date 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31, all countries, all skills (2025, provisional); retrieved 27 September 2026.
Bangladesh issued 1,132,368 emigration clearances in 2025, two thirds of them for Saudi Arabia. Clearances for the 27 EU countries came to 22,589, or 2.0 percent, up from 13,878 in 2024.
Saudi Arabia alone took two thirds in 2025
The five largest destinations of the emigration clearances of 2025.
Saudi Arabia
755,19466.7%
Qatar
107,6029.5%
Singapore
70,8326.3%
Kuwait
42,7483.8%
Maldives
40,1593.5%
Other destinations
115,83310.2%
EU countries in the register, 20252.0%
22,589 clearances for the 27 EU countries out of 1,132,368; provisional; the share is our arithmetic.
Source: Overseas Employment Platform, Reports, country clearance, 2025 and 2024, retrieved 27 September 2026.
What the register counts, and what it does not
Counted: An emigration clearance under the Overseas Employment and Migrants Act 2013: the passport stamp and smart card the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training gives a registered citizen who leaves for a job abroad, counted in the year it is issued.
Not counted: Anyone who leaves without one: students, visitors and family members who later work, public servants, business travellers, irregular departures. Returns are not subtracted, and 2025 is provisional.
Workforce Migration Report 2026, Bangladesh6
Kuwait ranks first for citizens of Bangladesh, then Italy and Japan
We rank destinations for citizens of Bangladesh by the ease of entry for them first, then by the size of their flow. All ten below are in grade 1, the easiest of five. Portugal, which issued 15,992 of their 29,626 first EU residence permits for work in 2025, ranks 23rd, in grade 3.
Place and destination
Size, Werklist estimate 2027 to 2031
Ease, share of the full score
1 Kuwait, people entering
224,000
97.5%
2 Italy, first permits
19,700
80.4%
3 Japan, new entries
16,200
95.8%
4 Serbia, first permits
5,610
85.4%
5 Bulgaria, first permits
2,200
87.4%
6 Slovenia, first permits
1,190
83.1%
7 Greece, first permits
1,030
82.4%
8 Saudi Arabia
not reported
97.5%
9 Qatar
not reported
86.3%
10 Singapore
not reported
81.5%
Source: Werklist ranking of destinations by corridor, run 2026.1-rk-15d, 29 September 2026, from the country records of edition 2026.1 and the arrivals of the latest year (Eurostat, migr_resfirst, 2025; Overseas Employment Platform, emigration clearances by country, 2025; Immigration Services Agency of Japan, new entries on a working status of residence, 2025). Size: the Werklist estimate of each destination for 2027 to 2031 together, times the share of citizens of Bangladesh in its count, rounded to three significant figures, in the unit of that count: Kuwait, foreign workers entering for work, modelled on the count of foreign workers of its Central Statistical Bureau, a count of people; Japan, new entries on a working status of residence; the others, first residence permits for work (Eurostat, which covers Serbia too). Not reported where the record holds no line for the destination (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Singapore).
Ease of entry first, then the size of the flow
Each destination is graded 1 to 5 on a score out of 100 for citizens of Bangladesh: admission, where they file, the approval at home, the labour market test and the decision time, and the arrivals of the latest year. Within a grade the larger flow ranks first.
Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Singapore, the three largest destinations of the emigration clearances, rank 8th to 10th in grade 1: their size is not known; the Maldives is 11th. The sizes are in three units (people entering for Kuwait, new entries for Japan, first permits for the others), so they are not strictly comparable. Cyprus and Romania are 12th and 13th, in grade 2. Portugal is 23rd, in grade 3: the file goes to its embassy in New Delhi, and its permits of 2024 mostly settled the papers of people already in the country, so they are not scored as arrivals.
Source: Werklist ranking of destinations by corridor, run 2026.1-rk-15d, 29 September 2026.
More than five times 2019, but down two years running
First EU residence permits for work issued to citizens of Bangladesh, by year, with the change on the year before. Without Portugal, the permits of 2025 fell 42.8 percent.
2019
5,352
2020
5,631up 5.2%
2021
9,910up 76.0%
2022
21,955up 121.5%
2023
33,409up 52.2%
2024
32,105down 3.9%
2025
29,626down 7.7%
Source: Eurostat, migr_resfirst, first residence permits issued for employment reasons in the 27 EU countries to citizens of Bangladesh, reference years 2019 to 2025, updated 11 September 2026, retrieved 27 September 2026.
Workforce Migration Report 2026, Bangladesh7
Outside Portugal, permits fell from 23,854 to 13,634 in 2025
Portugal issued 54.0 percent in 2025, a count Eurostat marks as a break
The 27 EU countries issued 29,626 first EU residence permits for work to citizens of Bangladesh in 2025, down from 33,409 in 2023. Eurostat marks Portugal's 15,992 as a break in the series; without Portugal the total fell from 23,854 in 2024 to 13,634, as Croatia went from 9,928 to 651 and Romania from 4,079 to 1,828.
EU destinations of the Werklist boardOther EU countries, in the table only
Source: Eurostat, migr_resfirst, first residence permits issued for employment reasons in the 27 EU countries to citizens of Bangladesh, by country of issue, reference years 2019 to 2025, updated 11 September 2026, retrieved 29 September 2026; Eurostat marks Portugal 2025 as a break in the series; the totals of the seven centres: Eurostat, migr_resfirst, EU27, 2025, updated 28 September 2026, retrieved 29 September 2026.
Among the seven sourcing centres of Werklist, Bangladesh's 29,626 first EU residence permits for work in 2025 came fourth, after India 101,573, Nepal 71,061 and the Philippines 50,944, ahead of Uzbekistan 22,928, Vietnam 14,794 and Indonesia 6,239.
Destination
2019
2024
2025
Share 2025
Portugal
997
8,251
15,992
54.0%
Italy
43
3,028
3,907
13.2%
Cyprus
266
715
1,858
6.3%
Romania
219
4,079
1,828
6.2%
Poland
878
1,493
1,461
4.9%
France
1,029
634
689
2.3%
Croatia
101
9,928
651
2.2%
Malta
300
342
483
1.6%
Other EU countries
1,519
3,635
2,757
9.3%
All EU countries
5,352
32,105
29,626
100.0%
Source: Eurostat, migr_resfirst, first residence permits issued for employment reasons in the 27 EU countries to citizens of Bangladesh, by country of issue, reference years 2019 to 2025, updated 11 September 2026, retrieved 29 September 2026; Eurostat marks Portugal 2025 as a break in the series; the totals of the seven centres: Eurostat, migr_resfirst, EU27, 2025, updated 28 September 2026, retrieved 29 September 2026.
Workforce Migration Report 2026, Bangladesh8
Nepal’s EU permit rate is 14 times Bangladesh’s
First EU residence permits for work per 100,000 residents aged 15 to 64
The first EU residence permits for work the 27 EU countries issue in a year to citizens of a country, divided by that country's residents aged 15 to 64. Both lines use the same two sources.
Source: Eurostat, migr_resfirst (first residence permits for employment in the EU27, by citizenship), updated 11 September 2026; World Bank, SP.POP.1564.TO (residents aged 15 to 64); reference years 2019 to 2025, retrieved 27 September 2026. Werklist calculation.
Bangladesh, 2025
25.7
Down from its peak of 29.8 in 2023.
Nepal, 2025
367.3
Up from 63.0 in 2019.
In 2025 citizens of Bangladesh received 25.7 first EU residence permits for work per 100,000 residents aged 15 to 64, down from 29.8 in 2023. Nepal’s rate rose every year after 2020, to 367.3. Nepal signed a memorandum with Romania in 2023, and Romania issued 24,486 of Nepal’s 71,061 permits in 2025. The two moved together; the data do not show that one caused the other.
One agreement with Romania sets Nepal apart
2023Nepal signed a memorandum with Romania on recruitment, employment and repatriation. Romania issued 24,486 of Nepal’s 71,061 first EU residence permits for work in 2025.
May 2025The Bangladeshi ministry’s list of memoranda names Cambodia, Korea and Japan, none in the EU.
2026An EU funded Talent Partnership, run by the ILO with the ministry, trains and certifies candidates for EU employers.
Sources: Nepal Labour Migration Report 2024, table 2.7; Bangladeshi ministry, memorandum page (updated 1 May 2025) and Talent Partnership portal; Eurostat; retrieved 27 September 2026.
Workforce Migration Report 2026, Bangladesh9
A clearance first; Portugal’s minimum pays 11.8 garment months
The rules at home, as they stand on 27 September 2026
Act 48, 2013
The Overseas Employment and Migrants Act of 27 October 2013 governs recruitment and departure. It replaced the 1982 ordinance and was amended in 2023 and 2026.
Smart card
Anyone going abroad for work registers with the employment bureau under an occupation, then gets a clearance: a passport stamp and a card holding fingerprints.
3 years
Only a licensed recruiting agent may recruit. The licence runs three years, and the applicant swears not to take more money than the government sets.
By order
The government may cap what migration costs a person by order. The ceilings in force for each destination were not found on an official page.
19 Dec 2019
Insurance is compulsory for everyone leaving for a job abroad. The welfare board also pays 300,000 taka to the family of a migrant who dies abroad.
Joint liability
The agent signs the contract (pay, housing, term, compensation, travel) for the employer, is liable with it, and files copies with the bureau and the mission.
Section 8
The government may ban migration to a country that endangers migrants, or bar groups of citizens for a time. No ban order in force was found.
Sources: Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division, Laws of Bangladesh, Act 48 of 2013, sections 8, 9, 11, 19 to 22, with amending acts 41 of 2023 and 42 of 2026; Wage Earners’ Welfare Board, insurance and services pages; retrieved 27 September 2026.
Where the visa is issued
For the largest EU destinations of citizens of Bangladesh, the embassy or visa centre that takes the application, and its city.
PortugalEmbassy of Portugal in New Delhi, India
ItalyEmbassy of Italy in Dhaka, files through VFS Global only
CyprusHigh Commission of Cyprus in New Delhi, India
RomaniaEmbassy of Romania in New Delhi, India, interview in person
Sources: visa portal of Portugal; embassies of Italy in Dhaka and of Romania in New Delhi; High Commission of Cyprus in New Delhi; retrieved 27 September 2026.
Unemployment among people aged 15 to 24, 2025, against 13.4 percent across the world
9.4%
Fewer young people are out of work than worldwide, yet 15.4 percent were neither working nor studying in 2024.
World Bank, SL.UEM.1524.ZS (ILO estimate) and SL.UEM.NEET.ZS, retrieved 27 September 2026
Portugal’s minimum wage against the garment minimum wage at home
11.8times
At the legal minimum, one month in Portugal pays about twelve months of a garment job at home.
Eurostat, earn_mw_cur (Portugal, second half of 2026, 1,073 euro, updated 31 July 2026); home wage as on page 3; our arithmetic
More people aged 15 to 64 in 2041 than in 2026, on the World Bank's projection
20.75million
The pool of people who could apply keeps growing to 2041, so candidates will not run short.
World Bank, SP.POP.1564.TO, retrieved 27 September 2026
Workforce Migration Report 2026, Bangladesh10
About 21,700 permits in 2026, five scenarios from 2028
We expect about 21,700 permits in 2026, between 13,400 and 32,900, about a quarter fewer than in 2025: Portugal's 15,992 permits of 2025 were a one off count, which Eurostat marks as a break, so Portugal is kept at its 2024 share. For 2027 the range is too wide for a yearly number; the direction is flat. From 2028 we give one line held flat and five scenarios, not forecasts. Italy's decree of 2 October 2025 and Romania's 2026 quota of 90,000 (Government Decision 1169/2025) cap their parts.
Permits in 2026, our estimate
21,700
between 13,400 and 32,900
Permits a year from 2027 to 2031, the direction
Flat
Too wide for a yearly number; the scenarios give 14,700 to 31,600 in 2031, held flat 21,700
Direction of the rules and of the count
The rulesTightening
The count, 2025Falling
Five scenarios give 14,700 to 31,600 permits a year in 2031, held flat 21,700
Permits issued to 2025, then our estimate with its range for 2026; 2027 as a direction, flat; from 2028 one line held flat, a stated assumption, and five scenarios in grey, not forecasts. Held flat stands at 21,700: Croatia at its 2026 count to August, Portugal at its 2024 share. No closures in Portugal carries its trend of 2021 to 2024, as if other routes replaced those closed in 2024 and 2025; the clearances' pace lifts the permits outside Portugal by 62.8 percent, as the clearances for EU countries rose in 2025. Not drawn: quota lifted in Romania, 23,100 in 2031; the court suspension in Romania lowers 2027 only.
ObservedOur estimate, 2026Its rangeHeld flat, a stated assumptionScenarios: sum of the destinations, open routes in Portugal, places raised in Italy, no closures in Portugal, the clearances' pace
Source: Werklist estimate from Eurostat migr_resfirst (reference years to 2025, updated 11 September 2026); 2027: a direction, as its range is too wide for a yearly number. From 2028: held flat, a stated assumption, each destination at its 2026 base (the 2025 count; Croatia at the 2026 pace of the Ministry of the Interior, 44,646 to 31 August; Portugal at its 2024 share). Scenarios: sum of the destinations, the central lines of the EU destinations at the 2025 shares of their permits; open routes in Portugal, Portugal at 359 a year, the mean of 2013 to 2016; places raised in Italy, the line without the places cap of the decree of 2 October 2025; no closures in Portugal, its trend of 2021 to 2024 carried; the clearances' pace, the permits outside Portugal at the pace of the ministry's emigration clearances for EU countries (up 62.8 percent in 2025, provisional; Overseas Employment Platform), Portugal as in the sum. Not drawn: quota lifted and court suspension in Romania. The lines join the 2026 estimate to 2028 and give no value for 2027. Retrieved 29 September 2026. Values rounded to three significant figures; Low and High give the range of 2026.
Workforce Migration Report 2026, Bangladesh11
Portugal and Italy issued 67.2 percent of the 2025 permits
Rules opening in Italy, tightening in Romania, reversing in Portugal
The rules in the largest EU destinations, and their permits for citizens of Bangladesh from 2024 to 2025.
Portugalrules reversingpermits rising
Reversing the open routes: Decree-Law 37-A/2024 and Law 61/2025 closed them; the 2025 rise is a one off count, and Portugal's record reads its permits as falling in 2026 and 2027.
Italyrules openingpermits rising
Decreto Flussi: 164,850 places for 2026, rising to 166,850 by 2028.
Cyprusrules holdingpermits rising
Strategy for companies of foreign interests, in force 2 January 2022.
Romaniarules tighteningpermits falling
The 2026 quota of 90,000, from 100,000 (Government Decision 1169/2025); a court suspended the shortage list on 10 September 2026.
Sources: the instruments named, as verified in the Werklist country records of edition 2026.1; Ministry of Labour of Romania, release of 15 September 2026 on the court suspension; read 27 September 2026.
Portugal held at its 2024 share, Italy and Romania capped
What moves the estimate, destination by destination.
People aged 20 to 64 in the EU4.8 percent fewer by 2041
250.4 million in 2041 (EUROPOP2025); this loss lifts the lines of the EU countries.
Portugalat its 2024 share
Its 15,992 permits of 2025 are a break; the estimate keeps about 8,240 a year to Bangladeshis.
Italycapped
The decree of 2 October 2025 caps it at about 58,000 from 2028; about 3,900 to Bangladeshis.
Romaniacapped
The 2026 quota of 90,000 holds its line at about 54,800; about 1,650 go to Bangladeshis.
The national count beside Eurostat's0.76 times
22,589 clearances for EU countries against 29,626 permits in 2025; outside Portugal, 1.66 per permit (0.58 in 2024).
Sources: Eurostat, proj_25np and migr_resfirst; World Bank, SP.POP.1564.TO; Overseas Employment Platform; the instruments named, as in our country records; retrieved 27 September 2026.
What could change this
The three cards give the dated changes in Portugal, Italy and Romania. Greece's Law 5275/2026 of 6 February 2026, which lets agencies hire from countries the government names, lies outside the estimate.
Portugal: two routes closed
Decree-Law 37-A/2024 ended residence from inside Portugal on an expression of interest from 4 June 2024; Law 61/2025 limited the job seeker visa from 23 October 2025. No count sizes the closed routes, so the sum of the destinations keeps Portugal at its 2024 share. Open routes in Portugal, a scenario, holds it at 359 permits a year to Bangladeshis: 14,700 in all in 2031.
Italy: decree of 2 October 2025
The decree sets 164,850 entries for 2026, 165,850 for 2027 and 166,850 for 2028. It caps Italy's first permits at about 57,300 in 2026 and 58,000 from 2028. With more places, places raised in Italy, a scenario, reaches 27,700 in 2031, against 22,600 for the sum of the destinations.
Romania: quota and court
Government Decision 1169 of 30 December 2025 set the 2026 quota at 90,000, which holds Romania at about 54,800 permits a year. The Court of Appeal Bucharest suspended the shortage list on 10 September 2026; this would lower 2027 only, and no source sizes it.
Workforce Migration Report 2026, Bangladesh12
How to read this report
What a first EU residence permit for work is
Eurostat's first permit for employment: the first residence permit, valid three months or more, that an EU country issues to a citizen of Bangladesh for work. It gathers the single permit for residence and work, the EU Blue Card, permits for seasonal work and each country's other permits for work. Renewals are not counted.
What the range and the scenarios mean
Our estimate gives a yearly number with a low and a high end for 2026 only. For 2027 its range is too wide, so we give the direction, flat. From 2028 we give one line held flat, a stated assumption, and five scenarios, not forecasts. Observed numbers are solid lines, the estimate and the scenarios dashed.
How the estimate is made
We add up the EU countries: each country's line times its 2025 share to Bangladeshis, Portugal at its 2024 share: about 21,700 in 2026. From 2028 this sum is one scenario; held flat keeps each start; open routes in Portugal holds it at 359 a year; places raised in Italy lifts its cap; no closures in Portugal carries its trend; the clearances' pace follows the clearances.
Numbers, dates and words
Past counts are printed exactly; estimates are rounded to three significant figures. Emigration clearances and Eurostat's first EU residence permits for work are two different counts. Permits are counted, not people, except two sizes on page 6: Kuwait's, a modelled count of people entering for work, and Japan's new entries, which also count people entering.
Sources
Every source retrieved 27 September 2026; the ranking by corridor and the totals of the seven centres on 29 September 2026.
Eurostat, migr_resfirst, first residence permits by reason, length of validity and citizenship, reference years 2019 to 2025, updated 11 September 2026. ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/migr_resfirst
World Bank, World Development Indicators and population estimates and projections (population, age, births, deaths, net migration, GDP, employment, unemployment). data.worldbank.org
Eurostat, migr_resfirst by citizenship and country of issue. ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/migr_resfirst
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook, April 2026, real GDP growth. imf.org/external/datamapper
World Bank, personal remittances received as a share of GDP (BX.TRF.PWKR.DT.GD.ZS), unemployment aged 15 to 24 (SL.UEM.1524.ZS, ILO estimate), young people neither working nor studying (SL.UEM.NEET.ZS), population by five year age group. data.worldbank.org
Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, Overseas Employment Platform, Reports, country clearance, approval dates 1 January to 31 December 2025 and 2024, all countries, all skills; the employment bureau’s annual totals for 2019 to 2024. www.oep.gov.bd
Minimum Wages Board, Ministry of Labour and Employment, minimum wage rates by industry, garments, gazetted 20 December 2023, in force 1 December 2023. mwb.portal.gov.bd
Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division, Bangladesh, Laws of Bangladesh: Overseas Employment and Migrants Act 2013 (Act 48 of 2013), amended by Act 41 of 2023 and Act 42 of 2026. bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd
Wage Earners’ Welfare Board, Bangladesh, expatriate insurance, compulsory since 19 December 2019, and services to families. wewb.gov.bd
Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, memorandum page (updated 1 May 2025); Bangladesh and EU Talent Partnership portal. probashi.gov.bd, tp.oep.gov.bd
Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security, Nepal, Nepal Labour Migration Report 2024 (final, 11 November 2025), table 2.7, agreements. moless.gov.np
Visa posts, Portugal, visa portal; Embassy of Italy in Dhaka; High Commission of Cyprus in New Delhi; Embassy of Romania in New Delhi. vistos.mne.gov.pt, ambdhaka.esteri.it, gov.cy, newdelhi.mae.ro
Ministry of Labour of Romania, Release of 15 September 2026 (the court suspension of the shortage list of 10 September 2026). mmuncii.gov.ro
Werklist country records, edition 2026.1, and the corridor ranking, run 2026.1-rk-15d, 29 September 2026; Portugal, Decree-Law 37-A/2024 and Law 61/2025; Italy, decree of 2 October 2025 (Decreto Flussi 2026 to 2028); Cyprus, strategy of 15 October 2021; Romania, Government Decision 1169/2025 and the Court of Appeal Bucharest ruling of 10 September 2026; Greece, Law 5275/2026. werklist.com
Photographs and flags
Pexels: Dhaka at night, Humaied Ullah (cover); tea garden, Sreemangal, Asif Al Naeem (page 3); Madhabpur Lake, Sylhet, Tanhatamannasyed; riverfront with a mosque, Dhaka, Shubhra Dhar; ships at Chattogram port, Mumtahina Tanni; river at sunset, Gazaria, Shibly Noman (back cover). Flags: circle-flags by HatScripts, MIT licence.
Workforce Migration Report 2026, Bangladesh
werklist.com
What this report answers
How many first EU residence permits for work went to citizens of Bangladesh each year since 2019?
29,626 in 2025, 7.7% fewer than the 32,105 of 2024 and down from the peak of 33,409 in 2023, but more than five times the 5,352 of 2019. Without Portugal's one off count, permits fell 42.8%.
Which EU countries issue the most of them, and which are growing?
Portugal issued 15,992 in 2025, 54.0%, clearing a backlog of people already in the country; Italy follows with 3,907 and Cyprus rose to 1,858. Croatia went from 9,928 in 2024 to 651 and Romania from 4,079 to 1,828.
How many emigration clearances does Bangladesh issue, and how many are for the EU?
1,132,368 emigration clearances in 2025, two thirds for Saudi Arabia. Clearances for the 27 EU countries came to 22,589, or 2.0%, up from 13,878 in 2024.
What rules apply at home before a worker from Bangladesh can leave?
Anyone going abroad for work registers with the employment bureau and gets a clearance, a passport stamp and a smart card. Only a licensed recruiting agent may recruit, insurance is compulsory, and the agent is liable with the employer for the contract.
How are the rules changing in the main destinations?
The rules are opening in Italy, tightening in Romania and reversing in Portugal; Cyprus holds. Portugal closed two routes, Italy's decree sets 164,850 places for 2026, and Romania cut its 2026 quota to 90,000 while a court suspended its shortage list.
How many first EU residence permits for work do we expect in 2026, and what comes after?
About 21,700 in 2026, between 13,400 and 32,900, with Portugal at its 2024 share. For 2027 the direction is flat. In 2031 held flat, a stated assumption, gives 21,700; five scenarios, not forecasts, run from 14,700 (open routes in Portugal) to 31,600 (the clearances' pace).
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Photographs: Dhaka at night by Humaied Ullah (Pexels); Tea garden, Sreemangal by Asif Al Naeem (Pexels); Madhabpur Lake, Sylhet by Tanhatamannasyed (Pexels); Riverfront with a mosque, Dhaka by Shubhra Dhar (Pexels); Ships at Chattogram port by Mumtahina Tanni (Pexels); Tea garden, Sreemangal by Asif Al Naeem (Pexels).
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