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Ahmadul Kobir, Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s Foreign Worker Centralized Management System (FWCMS) has published a list of 25 Bangladeshi recruiting agencies eligible to recruit workers for the Malaysian labour market, raising hopes of a possible resumption of worker migration from Bangladesh.
The list, published on Friday, names 25 recruiting agencies from Bangladesh. However, the Malaysian government has yet to officially announce when recruitment will begin or what process will be followed for sending workers through the selected agencies.
The publication of the list has also triggered concerns among a section of manpower exporters over the possibility of a new recruitment “syndicate”.
A section of leaders of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) has called for Malaysia’s labour market to remain open to all licensed Bangladeshi recruiting agencies. They said the selection process for the 25 agencies, as well as the timeline and mechanism for worker recruitment, remains unclear.
The 25 agencies listed by FWCMS are Bangladesh One Overseas Limited, Bengal Human Resources Development, General Trading Company, M/s United Gulf Services, Annesa Air International, At-Taqwa Overseas Limited, Earth-Smart Bangladesh Limited, Khanjahan Ali Overseas, M/s Al-Shotup Overseas, Motherland Overseas Limited, Rifa International, Veli Trade International, A-Plus International, Al-Hayat Overseas, Bhaluka Overseas, Brothers Trading and Contracting Limited, Chandpur International, Country Employment Agency, Goodness Services Limited, Jewel Rinku Enterprise, M/s Satkhira International, Mangrove Career Link, Neighbors Associates Limited, Tania Trade International and Anchor Care Global Migration.
The selection of recruiting agencies for Malaysia has been controversial in the past.
In 2015, Malaysia selected 10 Bangladeshi recruiting agencies to recruit and send workers. The agencies later became known as a recruitment “syndicate”.
In 2022, Malaysia again selected 25 agencies for worker recruitment. Allegations subsequently emerged that five of the agencies were owned by ministers or members of parliament at the time, while others allegedly had links with Awami League leaders or people close to them.
Although the migration cost had been fixed at Tk 79,000 per worker, the agencies allegedly charged an average of Tk 544,000.
Amid widespread allegations of irregularities and corruption, Malaysia closed its labour market to Bangladeshi workers on May 31, 2024. Around 17,000 Bangladeshi workers who had completed the required procedures were left unable to travel to Malaysia.
During Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s visit to Malaysia in June this year, he proposed reopening the Malaysian labour market to Bangladeshi workers.
Bangladesh subsequently submitted a list of 423 recruiting agencies that met Malaysia’s requirements for recruiting and sending workers. Malaysia has now selected 25 agencies from that list.
Earlier, on October 28, 2025, Malaysia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked Bangladesh to provide a list of agencies capable of recruiting workers based on 10 mandatory criteria. Bangladesh later requested that at least three of the conditions be relaxed.
The criteria included experience in sending at least 3,000 migrant workers abroad over the previous five years, maintaining an in-house training centre and operating a permanent office of at least 10,000 square feet for at least three years.
Subsequently, 260 recruiting agencies that met seven of the criteria and another 163 that met six criteria were included in Bangladesh’s submitted list.
However, it remains unclear what criteria Malaysia used to select the final 25 agencies.
People familiar with the process said there was no precedent for Malaysia’s labour market reopening and workers travelling immediately after an agreement was reached between the two countries.
According to them, issues including the number of workers to be recruited, recruitment procedures and applicable conditions are generally discussed and finalised through meetings of the joint working group formed by Bangladesh and Malaysia. Recruitment then begins officially after the necessary arrangements are completed.
The existing Bangladesh-Malaysia agreement on worker recruitment is due to expire this year. The two countries will therefore need to take steps to renew or update the agreement.
A meeting of the joint working group is expected to discuss and finalise the outstanding issues before the agreement is updated and signed.
A section of Bangladeshi manpower exporters has alleged that recruitment syndicates previously exercised excessive control over Malaysia’s labour market, allowing intermediaries to charge workers exorbitant migration costs.
They are now calling for the market to be opened to all legitimate and licensed recruiting agencies and for the recruitment process to be conducted transparently.
BAIRA leaders said the key questions following the publication of the list of 25 agencies are how they were selected and what rules will govern recruitment and worker deployment.
They warned that without a transparent mechanism, there is a risk of another recruitment syndicate emerging, repeating the problems that contributed to the closure of the Malaysian labour market in 2024.
The publication of the 25-agency list has raised expectations that Malaysia may soon reopen its labour market to Bangladeshi workers. However, several procedural and policy issues still need to be resolved before workers can begin travelling.
Ensuring affordable migration costs and establishing a transparent, syndicate-free recruitment system will be critical to preventing a repeat of the controversies that have plagued Bangladesh-Malaysia labour migration in the past.