Bangladesh invited to nominate recruiting agencies for Malaysia under new worker deployment rules

The Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment has announced that the Malaysian government has invited Bangladesh to submit a list of private recruiting agencies eligible to send workers to Malaysia under newly introduced and stricter selection criteria.

According to the ministry, Bangladesh received the detailed “Recruiting Agent Selection Criteria” from Malaysia on 28 October. The move follows commitments made during the 3rd Joint Working Group meeting held in Dhaka on 21–22 May 2025, where Malaysia pledged to ensure equal opportunities for Bangladeshi agencies and apply uniform standards for all countries involved in manpower recruitment.

In an official letter dated 27 October 2025, Malaysia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs requested the Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur to provide, by 15 November, a list of licensed Bangladeshi recruiting agencies that meet 10 mandatory criteria set by Malaysia’s Ministry of Human Resources.

The initiative aims to streamline the recruitment process by limiting the number of agencies, promoting ethical, transparent, and performance-based recruitment practices. However, migrant rights activists have expressed concern that the stringent standards could result in only a small number of agencies qualifying.

The 10 eligibility criteria are as follows:

1. At least five years of valid operation under a recruitment licence.
2. Proof of sending a minimum of 3,000 workers abroad in the past five years.
3. Experience in deploying workers to at least three different destination countries.
4. A permanent office of no less than 10,000 square feet, operational for a minimum of three years.
5. Valid licences and certificates of good conduct.
6. No record of forced labour, human trafficking, labour law violations, extortion, money laundering, or unethical recruitment practices.
7. Ownership of a training and assessment centre with accommodation and technical and induction training facilities.
8. At least five certificates from foreign employers verifying satisfactory recruitment performance.
9. Compliance with all legal and procedural requirements for overseas recruitment, including those of Malaysia.
10. Official approval from the relevant Bangladeshi authorities for training, assessment, and recruitment activities.

Eligible recruiting agencies in Bangladesh have been asked to submit their applications, along with supporting documents, to the ministry by 7 November 2025.