Bonny Mascarenhas

Caption: Bangladeshi applicants are seen queuing up outside the Embassy.

The Bangladeshi Embassy is anticipating a surge in the number of Easy Exit applicants with the advent of Ramadhan.
“At present we receive about 500 applicants each week. But from the feedback received during our visits to different areas in the Kingdom,

 I think many are going to use the Holy Month to avail of the clemency,” Muhammad Ibrahim, First Secretary at the Embassy, told the Bahrain Tribune.

The official said he noticed a similar trend during Ramadhan last year. “There was no Easy Exit scheme at the time but a lot of our people came to us to get help to leave the Kingdom.”

He added that many will also be taking advantage of the various sales and special offers available during Ramadhan. “If they go on other months then they will leave with less gifts for their family. But with items being cheaper (in Ramadhan) they can probably go home with a lot of gifts and celebrate Eid with their loved ones.”

But the same trend will probably not be seen amongst applicants in the Indian community. A member of the Coordination Committee of Indian Associations, which is conducting road-shows to create awareness of the scheme, said that he did not anticipate an influx of applicants during Ramadhan.

“The Indian diaspora is mixed, it includes many religions and none of the people who came to inquire about the Easy Exit have specifically said that they are waiting for the Holy Month,” he said.

Speaking to the Bahrain Tribune yesterday, Waheed Al Belushi, head of public relations at the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA), said that over 5,000 people have left the Kingdom under the scheme so far. An estimated 3,500 of these have been Bangladeshi.