State Minister for Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Nurul Haq Nur has delivered a sharp critique of Bangladesh's overseas recruitment sector, stating that if stringent performance grading were applied to the country's 3,000-plus registered recruiting agencies, no more than 300 to 500 would survive.

Speaking at the 30th-anniversary celebration of the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) in Dhaka on Tuesday (October 13, 2026), Nur expressed regret that despite migrant workers serving as the backbone of the national economy, the state has historically failed to provide them with adequate structural support or systematic discipline. Highlighting widespread irregularities, the State Minister noted that even with online processing systems in place, numerous agencies engage in recurring fraud. When penalized and locked out by authorities, these agencies often exploit legal loopholes through court injunctions to resume operations and continue exploitation.