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Dhaka has requested Kuala Lumpur to extend the time frame for sending the workers who were in the process of going to Malaysia before imposing restrictions.
The Malaysian government stopped issuing demand letters for Bangladeshi workers from September 01 due to alleged syndication through the online system of 'Sistem Pengambilan Pekerja Asing (SPPA) under the G-to-G plus deal.
But the authority concerned of the Southeast Asian country set a timeframe for the workers who completed necessary procedures before the restriction was slapped. The last date for sending workers to Malaysia is November 30 this year.
Officials and sector insiders said about 40,000 workers were in the pipeline before imposing the restrictions.
However, some manpower recruiters said the number of workers who were in the process may be more than 50,000. But they have no actual data.
Officials involved with the development said they formally requested their Malaysian counterpart to extend the time frame at the joint working group meeting held in Dhaka last month.
"We have yet to get any response from Malaysia in this regard," said a senior official at the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment (EWOE).
Officials at the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) said they are giving manpower clearance for Malaysia-bound workers each and every day.
Hopefully, they said, the maximum number of workers will be able to go to the job destination country by November 30.
According to the BMET, a total of 29,739 Bangladeshi workers went to Malaysia with jobs between September and October last.
Besides, some 5,764 workers went to that country in last 13 days of this month, the data showed.
When contacted, Ahmed Munirus Saleheen, additional secretary at the EWOE ministry, said they are giving approval for manpower clearance to at least 2,000 workers every day.
"I think almost all the workers will be able to fly to Malaysia within the deadline," he said, adding that they have already requested Malaysia to extend the time frame.
Leaders of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) said as the workers paid migration cost, Malaysia should hire all of them.
They are also hopeful that the Southeast Asian country will keep continuing the recruitment process.
Meanwhile, the migration cost for Malaysia-bound Bangladeshi workers has been set at about Tk 40,000 each.
Under the SPPA system of the existing deal, the official cost of migration was Tk 160,000 for a worker.
In the new migration system, the employers will bear Malaysian Ringgit (RM) 5,525 (Tk 110,000) to hire each worker, officials said.
They also expressed the hope that as Malaysia needs more workers, the country will start fresh recruitment within a short period.
There is no scope for syndication and all recruiters will get equal opportunities for sending workers to Malaysia in line with the new recruitment system, they added.
About 0.2 million Bangladeshi workers went to Malaysia through SPPA since the signing of the G-to-G plus deal in 2016.
Approximately 0.9 million Bangladeshi workers are now staying in Malaysia.