DHAKA, Sept 12, 2024 (BSS) - Rome has assured to put its effort to resolve 
the outstanding work visa for Bangladeshi nationals at an early date and 
cooperate further to curb irregular migration along with promote legal 
pathways for skills mobility from Bangladesh to Italy, 

The assurance was made while Italian Ambassador to Bangladesh paid a courtesy 
call on newly appointed Foreign Secretary Md Jashim Uddin at the foreign 
ministry here today. 

During the meeting, the envoy hoped that bilateral relations between the two 
friendly countries will be further strengthened in the coming days. 

Terming Bangladesh as an important country for Italy, particularly in terms 
of migration, the Ambassador expressed Italy's desire to deepen migration 
cooperation with Bangladesh. 

The Foreign Secretary deeply appreciated Italy for being the generous host of 
the second largest Bangladesh Diaspora in Europe and acknowledged their 
immense contributions to the economies of both countries. 

He particularly requested the Italian Ambassador to resolve the outstanding 
work visa applications at an early date including through innovative means 
and assured all possible cooperation from the Bangladesh government in this 
regard. 

The Italian Ambassador informed that a significant number of work visa 
applications are now pending at the Embassy mainly due to the illicit 
meddling of organized criminal networks, constantly trying to interfere with 
the work visa system, the submission of counterfeit documents as well as the 
unforeseen surge of visa requests in relation to the Embassy's human 
resources. 

He further informed that the Italian government has announced very stringent 
measures against human trafficking and migrant-smuggling. 

The envoy said currently Italian foreign ministry's officials are now 
supporting the Italian mission in Dhaka in discriminating suspicious and 
genuine work permits (Nulla Osta) in order to fast-track the visa issuing 
process. 

This will allow the Italian Embassy here to clear a significant number of 
genuine visa applications by this year as well as further investigating 
potentially suspicious requests, he added. 

The Ambassador expected that the work visa applications would be processed at 
a faster rate in the coming weeks with the reinforcement of additional 
officials at the Italian Embassy in Dhaka.

The Foreign Secretary thanked the Italian Ambassador for his earnest and 
practical efforts to resolve the outstanding work visa applications. 

Both sides expected that the proposed MOU between the two governments on 
migration and mobility would be concluded soon to facilitate legal pathways 
for employment of skilled workers, curb irregular migration from Bangladesh 
to Italy, and establish closer cooperation on repatriations.