Bangladesh deploys additional staff

The Bangladesh Consulate in Jeddah is experiencing an unprecedented influx of nationals who are seeking the mission’s consular services to legalize their status or be repatriated back home.
A large stretch of Makkah Road near the consulate was jammed in the early hours of yesterday morning.
The Bangladesh Consulate is unable to cope up with the unprecedented rush. Halls inside the mission are packed, with some sitting on the floor.
Long queues of applicants are seeking emergency certificates and one-way travel documents that can substitute passports.
Saudi security forces guarding the diplomatic mission are struggling to maintain the crowd in order to avoid traffic in adjacent areas.
Earlier restrictions stipulating that deported expatriates cannot return to the Kingdom have forced many Bangladeshi workers to ditch the idea of going home in favor of rectifying their status.
The recent three-month grace period allowing foreigners to seek new sponsors has given hope to Bangladeshis, who have since rushed to their consulate to meet the July 3 deadline.
Though the Bangladeshi Consulate has published comprehensive information in circulars in the Bangla language among the community, thousands are still flooding the premises with inquiries.
The consulate has 32,000 passports in its possession belonging to runaway workers, which were handed over by Saudi authorities. Thousands of workers flood the consulate every day in search of their passports, which employees are tasked with locating.
Speaking with Arab News, Bangladesh Consul General M. Nazmul Islam said that “The Bangladesh Consulate has recently received the passports of 12,000 runaway workers, with 20,000 pre-existing. Three counters have been established exclusively for the re-distribution of passports to those who come to reclaim them.”
He also said that “the Bangladesh Consulate has thus far received 10,000 applications for emergency certificates." "A total of eight counters have been established to receive such applications. These counters have been shifted to the Haj mission nearby in order to ease congestion at the main mission,” he said, adding that the Bangladesh International School premises are also being used for the delivery of passports after school hours.
The consul general said additional staff from Dhaka and other Bangladesh diplomatic missions in the region will join the team in Jeddah to expedite consular services for repatriation or sponsorship transfer.