Dhaka, Bangladesh (CU)_ With the upcoming launch of a Maltese visa office in Bangladesh, Bangladeshi citizens who wish to work in Malta may soon be able to get visas. So far, Bangladeshi employees had to fly to neighboring India to apply for their work visas and other visa-related works at the Malta High Commission in India.
However, in May 2021, the Commission told Bangladeshis that visa applications had been suspended until further notice, which is a decision thought to be taken following an order by the Indian government. According to the latest reports from Bangladeshi media, Malta will soon establish a visa office in Dhaka to fix the issue.
Asud Ahmed, the non-resident ambassador of Bangladesh to Malta, assured that the embassy is attempting to resolve the visa issue. Reuben Gauci, the High Commissioner of Malta to India and Bangladesh, visited Dhaka in the beginning of the month and met with several senior Bangladeshi authorities, including Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen and Home Secretary Akhter Hossain.
In recent months, the Malta High Commission in India saw a significant backlog in visa applications, requiring Identity Malta to hire 40 workers to handle the influx. A number of Bangladeshis who had been recruited for a job in Malta by their company and Identity Malta were waiting for visas to relocate to the island, but their hopes were highly devastated owing to the visa complications and the suspension of Maltese visa applications for no apparent reason.
Rofiq, waiting for a Malta visa, said, “I left my job in Bangladesh when I received my Maltese work permit in February”. He added, “I submitted all my documents on 21st February at the High Commission in Malta but after three months and 15 days, they have sent me back my passport without any results. I have lost my job and wasted my money and don’t know the reason or what to do next.”
