First country to get electronic work, residence, visit service Over 610,000 Bangladeshis went to work in Kingdom in 2022 DHAKA: Bangladesh is hopeful that Saudi Arabia’s expanded electronic visa facility will benefit its migrant workers, an official from the manpower export bureau told Arab News on Tuesday, a day after the Kingdom launched the new initiative in Dhaka. Saudi ambassador to Bangladesh, Issa bin Yousef Al-Duhailan, launched on Monday the electronic visa facility for work, residence and visits of Bangladeshis, aimed at easing the process for citizens of the South Asian country. Bangladesh is the first country to have this service, the Saudi embassy in Dhaka said in a tweet. Saudi Arabia’s e-visa facility is open for tourists from nearly 50 other countries, but in Bangladesh the service was previously only available for those going for Umrah. “Bangladesh is the first country to get opportunities for e-visas for the migrants from the Kingdom’s authorities,” Shahidul Alam, director-general at the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, told Arab News. “The initiative was launched on May 1st — the day for workers’ rights — and we believe it will bring good results for the migrants of Bangladesh.” More than 610,000 Bangladeshis went to work in Saudi Arabia last year, making up more than half of migrant workers from the South Asian country, according to data from BMET. Visas for migrants will be processed much faster under the new system, Alam said. “It’s expected that the new system will reduce the migration cost. The more it becomes automated and free from human touch, the more it makes the system hassle-free,” Alam, who attended the e-visa launching event in Dhaka, added. The e-visa launch in Bangladesh is an “implementation of the generous directives and in achieving the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 to automate all procedures and to provide highly efficient digital services,” the Saudi embassy in Dhaka said. The Kingdom was the second-biggest source of remittances to Bangladesh in the fourth quarter of last year, just behind the US, according to a Bangladesh Bank report published in February, as workers brought in about $910 million from the Kingdom during the period.