“I took the money my family in Brahmanbaria. After paying the fine, I was registered with the Bangladesh embassy to return home. But now the Lebanese authorities are taking a long time to do the necessary paperwork.

“Whenever I am cleared to go, I will have to bring money from home again to pay for my air tickets,” Rana, father of two daughters, told The Daily Star over phone yesterday, adding that some 15,000 Bangladeshis live in Nahar Ibrahim area.

Several other migrant workers in Lebanon echoed Rana’s statement and said that the situation there was precarious for the Bangladeshi migrants who mainly work at factories and people’s homes.


“I sold my ancestral land to come here. I don’t know what will I do now,” said a Bangladeshi migrant, wishing not to be named.

Babu Saha, a Bangladeshi journalist based in Beirut, said, “Many Lebanese employers were not renewing the work permits of their employees. As a result, the workers are becoming undocumented.”

With their low or no income, the migrants are not being able to send money back home, he said.

Contacted, Abdullah Al Mamun, first secretary at the Bangladesh embassy in Lebanon, said it was true that many migrants were losing jobs while many were being paid low.