The government on Monday formed an 11-member task force to decide the next course of actions against the foreigners illegally staying in Bangladesh, as the deadline for submitting necessary documents by them expired on January 31.
Security Services Division under the home ministry issued a gazette notification to this effect on the day.
According to the government, 33,648 foreigners were illegally staying in Bangladesh as of January 18 while many believe that the actual figure is much higher than the government data.聽
Security Services Division additional secretary for security and immigration and the division鈥檚 joint secretary for immigration-2 were made the convener and the member secretary of the task force respectively.
The other members of the task force are Chief Adviser鈥檚 Office director general, foreign affairs ministry director general for consular, Public Security Division鈥檚 political-1 branch joint secretary, Special Branch deputy inspector general of police for immigration, Directorate of Immigration and Passports additional director general for passport, visa and immigration, Border Guard Bangladesh operation wing鈥檚 director, NGO Affairs Bureau director, National Security Intelligence director for external relations liaison wing and Directorate General of Forces Intelligence director for external affairs and liaison bureau.
The terms of reference of the task force include coordinating and advising on the聽 overall activities taken regarding the foreign nationals illegally staying in Bangladesh, directing to take necessary actions and formulating recommendations, if necessary.
The task force committee may request any official or person to attend its meeting and, if necessary, co-opt any official or person into it.
On January 20, home affairs adviser Lieutenant General (retired) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said that over 33, 000 foreigners were still illegally staying in Bangladesh.
He said that there were 49,266 illegal foreigners as of October 30, 2024, but the number stood at 33,648 on January 18. On December 8, 2024, the home ministry in a warning notice requested the foreign nationals, living and working at different organisations in Bangladesh illegally, to obtain legal residency and work permit documents by January 31, 2025.