For millions of expatriates worldwide — Probashi App

According to the rules of the Saudi Passport Department (Jawazat), the sponsor or kafeel must renew the akama within 3 days of its expiry. A fine of 500 riyals is imposed if the first renewal is more than 3 days late, and 1,000 riyals for the second time. Failing to renew a third time can, in addition to the fine, result in jail and permanent deportation from Saudi Arabia.

Searching worker status with the akama number on the Saudi Ministry of Labor portal shows your current status. If the result says 'Al-Amil Fi Amalihi' (worker engaged in work), the status is safe; but if it says 'Mutaghayyib Anil Amal', understand that the kafeel has filed a huroob report. As soon as a huroob is registered, the worker's bank account and valid status are automatically frozen.

According to Article 40(1) of Saudi labor law, the full cost of the worker's akama renewal fee, Maktab Amal levy, and medical insurance is the responsibility of the employer or kafeel. The worker has no legal obligation to pay this fee themselves. However, if the kafeel illegally tries to deduct this money from the worker's salary, an official complaint can be filed with the Qiwa portal or the labor court.

You need to go to the Bangladesh e-passport online portal (epassport.gov.bd) and click the 'Check Status' menu. Then providing the OID number from your application summary slip and date of birth shows the current file status. Statuses like 'Pending for Police Clearance', 'In Process', or 'Passport Issued' let you know the passport's current location.

Expatriates must fill out an online form and appear either directly or by appointment at the Bangladesh embassy or consulate general of the relevant country. The original old passport, national ID card (NID) or a copy of the digital birth certificate, and the prescribed consular fee must be submitted. After biometrics and photo are taken, the application is sent to Dhaka, and once the passport is printed and reaches the embassy, notification is given by message.

If the passport is stolen or lost, a lost report must be obtained from the local police station and a Travel Permit application submitted to the Bangladesh embassy. The application must include a copy of the old passport, national ID card, 3 copies of photos, and the prescribed consular fee. After confirming identity, the embassy authority usually issues a one-way travel permit within 3 to 7 working days, valid for 3 months.

According to the latest notification from the Ministry of Home Affairs, the national ID card (NID) will be considered the primary basis for correcting the name and date of birth on the passport. If there is a mistake in the name on an expatriate's passport, an application for name correction can be made by submitting the NID card or an online-verified birth certificate. In special cases, an affidavit and educational certificates may need to be submitted.

Going to the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs' official visa platform (visa.mofa.gov.sa) and checking status with the visa application number and passport number under the 'Enquiry' option. If the visa is genuine, the full digital visa with the candidate's name, photo, profession, and sponsor's name will be visible. Additionally, scanning the visa's QR code redirecting directly to the mofa.gov.sa link is a primary proof of a genuine visa.

For a Dubai visa, checking must be done on the GDRFA portal (smart.gdrfad.gov.ae) and for other emirates including Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, on the ICP platform (smartservices.icp.gov.ae), using the passport number and nationality. After searching, if the visa validity, issue date, and 'Active' status are visible, understand the visa is 100% genuine. Any fake travel agency's PDF editing is caught instantly by this official server check.

Many dishonest human traffickers falsely assure workers that a cleaner or general labor visa is actually a driver, technician, or office assistant visa, extracting lakhs of taka from expatriates. Whatever profession is written in Arabic and English on the official visa portal, the worker is legally required to do exactly that job upon going abroad. So confirming the visa's actual job title and salary structure before boarding the plane is essential for life protection.

Going to the Qatar Visa Center's official website (qatarvisacenter.com) and selecting the passport number and country name shows the progress of the visa application. After the medical test's fitness report and biometric approval, the final visa is approved by Qatar's Ministry of Interior (MOI). If any broker claims to provide a direct Qatar work visa without QVC approval, it is 100% fraud.

The BMET smart card is a digital migration clearance issued by the Bangladesh Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training. It is the only legal recognition of being a valid migrant worker and is mandatory for passing airport immigration. Without this card, no Bangladeshi worker can legally fly abroad for employment purposes.

Download the 'Ami Probashi' app from the Google Play Store and open an account with a mobile number. Then, entering the candidate's passport information, photo, professional skills, and nominee information, and paying the 200 taka government fee, saves the registration in the BMET registration database. A digital registration card is provided upon successful registration.

The QR code on top of your BMET card must be scanned with any smartphone camera or the Probashi App's QR scanner. Scanning it opens a page on the official bmet.gov.bd government server directly, where the candidate's name, passport number, clearance ID, and destination country name are visible. If no information appears, the card is considered fake.

Upon receiving a BMET smart card, the expatriate automatically gains membership of the Wage Earners' Welfare Board. Under this, if a worker dies abroad, the family is arranged a one-time financial grant of 3 lakh taka and the body is brought home at government expense. There are also special medical and education scholarship benefits for family members.

The Probashi AI Assistant is a smart chatbot and legal advisor powered by artificial intelligence, which provides instant advice on the labor law of Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia and the UAE. By entering the Probashi App and typing in Bangla or sending a voice recording, anyone can get the correct legal answer within moments to complex questions about akama, contracts, outstanding salary, or kafala.

Uploading a photo or text of your Arabic or English employment contract into the Probashi AI translates it instantly into simple and pure Bangla. Additionally, the AI identifies whether there is any harmful clause, bond trap, or hidden liability in the contract and warns the worker in advance, so no one falls victim to any kind of legal fraud.

Yes, if an employer fails to pay salary for several consecutive months, the AI can draft a formal complaint letter and legal petition according to the policy of the relevant country's labor ministry. For Saudi Arabia, a standard Arabic statement is created for submission on the Qiwa or Wadi portal, and for the UAE, on the MOHRE portal, which helps in filing a case.

The Expatriate Expense Calculator is a precise digital ledger for the daily grocery expenses, deposited money, and total meals of multiple mess roommates. Entering the number of meals per sitting automatically calculates the current meal rate, and at month's end, it instantly generates a sheet showing which member gets how much money back or owes how much.

Entering the total amount of interest-bearing or principal loan taken from NGOs, banks, or relatives to come abroad creates a monthly installment plan. It shows, through graphs and charts, how much money is going toward installments back home each month and how many installments remain, making it easy to plan to quickly reduce the loan burden from an expatriate's savings.

The qibla compass essentially works through your phone's internal built-in magnetic and gyroscope hardware sensors. It requires no data or internet connection for this. Once your position is saved, the angle to the Kaaba (Azimuth Degree) is precisely displayed from anywhere on earth through an offline great circle formula.

The mobile's compass sensor is sensitive to the earth's geomagnetic field. As a result, placing the phone very close to a laptop, iron rod, electric motor, or a car's metal body causes magnetic interference and the compass points in the wrong direction. So to know the correct qibla, one should stand at least 3-4 feet away from any metallic object.

The Bangladesh Jewellers Association (BAJUS) determines the daily gold price by analyzing the international bullion market price, the US dollar exchange rate, and the local supply situation of pure gold (tejabi gold). The prices per gram and vori for 22 karat, 21 karat, 18 karat, and traditional methods take effect through BAJUS's press release.

According to Bangladesh Customs Baggage Rules, an international air passenger can bring up to a maximum of 100 grams (approximately 8.57 vori) of gold jewelry completely tax-free for personal use. However, these jewelry items cannot exceed 12 pieces of one type, and under no circumstances can they be raw gold bars or gold biscuits.

A passenger can bring a maximum of 117 grams (10 tola or 1 standard gold bar) by paying duty through legal declaration on the flight. For this, a government-set customs duty of 4,000 to 5,000 taka per vori must be paid at the airport. Bringing it in hidden without declaring to customs is considered smuggling and will result in confiscation and a criminal offense.

PNR (Passenger Name Record) is a unique 6-character alphanumeric code. Entering this PNR and the passenger's last name on the airline's official site instantly verifies the ticket's confirmation status, seat number, exact flight schedule, transit details, and approved baggage weight.

To change a flight date, you need to contact your travel agent or the airline's sales office directly. Usually, based on the ticket class, a specific penalty fee and the fare difference for the new date must be paid. However, if you try to change the date within 24 hours of departure, a no-show charge is added, significantly increasing the cost.

For luggage exceeding the approved weight (usually 20 to 35 kg), a charge of approximately 50 to 100 riyal/dirham (or roughly 1,500 to 2,500 taka) per extra kilogram is taken on Gulf routes. If extra baggage is needed, buying it online at least 24 hours before the flight can reduce the cost by up to about 40%.

The Bangladesh embassy in Riyadh and the consulate general in Jeddah have general office hours from Sunday to Thursday, 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. For emergency legal assistance and death-related information for expatriates, the Riyadh embassy's 24/7 hotline number +966114802385 and toll-free number 8001000007 are active.

The Dubai consulate and Malaysia High Commission provide passport renewal and reissue, travel permit issuance, birth certificate and power of attorney attestation, family dispute resolution, and legal arbitration service through the labour wing for company disputes. In addition, jails are regularly inspected for the release of detained expatriates.

As soon as news of death is received, the embassy contacts the local hospital and the sponsor to collect the death certificate and police clearance. The body is sent home at the airfare expense of the kafeel or company; however, if the kafeel fails, the embassy itself makes the full arrangement to send the body home to relatives at the Wage Earners' Welfare Board's government expense.

You need to register and create a personal profile on the Bangladesh Police's online portal (pcc.police.gov.bd). Then the expatriate can submit an online application with a scanned copy of the passport (first page and embassy-attested page), current voter or national ID card information, and permanent address information. There is no need to physically come to the country for this.

The government fee for a police clearance certificate is only 500 taka. It can be paid from home via Bangladesh Bank's automated challan system (a-challan / code 1-2201-0001-2681) through bKash, Nagad, Rocket, or any debit/credit card. The original PDF copy of the challan must be uploaded during the online application.

Yes, if an expatriate abroad requests police clearance, the photocopy of their current passport must be attested by the Bangladesh embassy of the relevant country. If an application is submitted without passport attestation, the DMP or the relevant district's SB office will temporarily cancel or reject the application.

You need to go to the Shahjalal International Airport's official flight portal or the Probashi App's live flight tracker feature and search by flight number (such as BG-040 or EK-582). The plane's current real-time flight path, scheduled arrival time, terminal number, and baggage belt number can be seen on screen within seconds.

Through Flightradar24 and ADS-B satellite technology, the plane's GPS position can be directly monitored on a map. If a plane circles midway (holding pattern) due to weather or traffic congestion, it can be seen directly on screen, so there's no need to sit extra time at the airport waiting to receive a loved one.

Yes, the live schedule of all international flights operated directly from Chittagong and Sylhet airports to Dubai, Sharjah, Doha, and London is included in the app. It can be instantly known whether the aircraft has landed on the runway and approximately how long it might take for passengers to complete immigration.

The Probashi Forum is a safe and open online community platform for Bangladeshi expatriates spread across various countries of the world. Here, expatriates can exchange mutual opinions and help based on real experience regarding job searches, finding good roommates, visa renewal complications, and legal crises abroad.

Experienced expatriate brothers working at various establishments post on the forum's 'Job Opportunity' board when they need trustworthy manpower, or a driver, technician, or office assistant at their company. Without any broker or agency mediation, expatriates get the opportunity for interviews by contacting the company and expatriates directly.

In big cities like Riyadh, Dubai, Doha, or Kuala Lumpur, finding housing or a bed space when newly arrived can often become difficult. Searching a specific city and area in the forum's 'Accommodation' section allows booking an empty seat in a shared room with other expatriate brothers, which is economical from both cost and safety perspectives.