Bangladesh has the highest number of migrant recruiting agencies in South Asia, but lacks an effective monitoring mechanism to oversee their activities, the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) said on Wednesday.

The finding was revealed in RMMRU’s annual report titled “Trends and Dynamics of Labour Migration from Bangladesh 2025,” unveiled at a programme held at the Jatiya Press Club in the afternoon.

According to RMMRU, while India has 192 recruiting agencies, Pakistan 464, Nepal 416 and Sri Lanka 248, Bangladesh has as many as 2,646 licensed agencies involved in sending workers abroad.

Speaking at the event, RMMRU Acting Executive Director Tasneem Siddiqui said the number of recruiting agencies in Bangladesh had previously remained between 800 and 900, but rose sharply to around 2,300 during the Awami League government’s tenure.

“The primary reason behind issuing such a large number of licences is corruption. There have been instances where multiple licences were issued to the same company or members of the same family,” she said.

She added that although the interim government cancelled the licences of 188 agencies and suspended those of 191 others, it has also approved 252 new licences. “There are around 300 more licence applications currently in the pipeline”.

Noting that the White Paper Committee formed by the interim government had recommended reducing the number of recruiting agencies, she said the relevant ministry failed to comply with the recommendation. “Issuing so many new licences is in no way consistent with the White Paper’s proposals.”

Social activist and photojournalist Shahidul Alam, speaking at the programme, alleged that corruption is not limited to recruiting agencies alone. “Bangladesh’s embassies abroad have turned into centres of corruption. I have personally seen in Malaysia that migrant workers cannot even enter the embassy through the main gate; they are forced to use a small back gate.”

“Even for minor services, migrants have to rely on brokers,” he added.

Shahidul further said that while prospective migrants from India and Nepal are often paid to take up overseas jobs, the situation is the opposite for Bangladeshis. “Bangladeshi migrants are forced to spend hundreds of thousands of taka to go abroad. A vested group is looting their hard-earned money.”

To curb corruption, RMMRU proposed imposing fines five times the amount of excess money charged by agencies from outgoing migrants. The organisation also recommended reducing the number of licensed recruiting agencies and cancelling licences where more than one has been issued to members of the same family.

Additionally, RMMRU suggested suspending recruiting agency licences owned by members of parliament or their family members to avoid conflicts of interest.