Washington has agreed to annually grant visas for up to 30,000 students opting for higher studies in the US, which would be a tenfold increase over the existing limit of 3,000, a senior foreign ministry official said.
“We raised the issue during the second partnership dialogue, and the US side agreed to increase the number to 30,000 annually,” Mahfuzur Rahman, director general of the America desk in the foreign ministry, told the Dhaka Tribune.
The Second Bangladesh-US Partnership Dialogue was held on May 26-27 in Dhaka, where four major issues were discussed: trade and investment, development and governance, security cooperation and regional integration.
“Students who want to pursue higher education in the US will not face difficulties as far as visa and financing are concerned,” he said.
The senior official said the US is “100% committed” to allowing more students from Bangladesh.
“We are going to have a 100m-strong workforce in the future, but our job market is not big enough to provide employment for them all,” the official said, adding: “If the workforce has advanced knowledge, they will find a way out. The US side readily agreed to our proposal, and it will be executed from this year.”
About the supply-side problems, he said Bangladeshi students are not fully aware of the benefits provided by Washington.
“Many factors, including finance and availability of visas, influence students to opt for higher studies in India, Singapore, Malaysia and other countries; but Washington is also offering the same study facilities,” he said.
Regarding labour rights in Bangladesh, the US side in the partnership dialogue expressed the view that it wanted to see workers’ rights implemented in full, but not at the expense of the industrial sector.
“They don’t want any damage to occur to our industry, but want to see full implementation of labour rights,” said Mahfuzur, who attended the meeting from the Bangladesh side.
“We discussed labour rights issues and reforms of labour laws at a group meeting. They made it clear that all they want to see is whether we are implementing the ILO Better Work Programme soon.”
The US side also emphasised organising a meeting with all stakeholders, including international buyers, to address all labour concerns, Mahfuzur said.
The US appreciated the role of Bangladesh regarding the Rohingya issue, but requested Dhaka “to consider the humanitarian side of the problem,” Mahfuzur said.
Bangladesh, which had historically allowed a large influx of Rohingya refugees fleeing from Myanmar, refused to accept any more after a bloody sectarian violence started in the Rakhine State last year. Washington had repeatedly asked Dhaka to accept them.
“Washington believes that Myanmar cannot build its future by abandoning Bangladesh, as Dhaka is a regional leader,” he said.
The US side “even told us to let them know what to tell Myanmar about resolving the Rohingya problem,” he added.
“However, we are of the same opinion, that the Rohingya issue is a problem of Myanmar and they should be the ones to resolve it.”
Regarding security cooperation, Washington said Bangladesh and the US have had an excellent relationship in matters of counterterrorism, Mahfuzur said.
US to grant visas for up to 30000 students
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