DHAKA: Malaysia is set to soon become the second-largest job market for Bangladeshi workers after Saudi Arabia, authorities say, with some 200,000 workers expected to be recruited over the next six months starting in September. Saudi Arabia is the main destination for Bangladeshi workers, with nearly 3 million Bangladeshis living and working in the Kingdom. The two countries signed their first labor agreements in the 1970s, and Bangladeshis have since become the largest expatriate community in Saudi Arabia, sending more than $5 billion home each year. Labor cooperation with Malaysia was one of the main subjects discussed by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman with his Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim during a visit to Kuala Lumpur in June. The scale of the recruitment was announced earlier this week, according to the Bangladeshi Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment. “Following a meeting with Malaysian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Shuhada Othman, our State Minister for Local Government and Rural Development Mir Shahe Alam announced that 200,000 of our workers will be employed by the Southeast Asian country,” Shahidul Islam Chowdhury, joint secretary in the ministry’s employment wing, told Arab News. “Malaysia is now the second-largest destination for Bangladeshi migrants after Saudi Arabia. And the UAE stands here in the third position. According to our estimates, there are about 1 million Bangladeshi migrants in Malaysia.” With the additional workers, Malaysia will overtake the UAE in the size of its Bangladeshi diaspora. While more than 1 million Bangladeshis were living and working in the UAE in the beginning of 2026, the migration rate has recently slowed. According to data from the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, the UAE issued about 14,500 visas to Bangladeshi workers in the first eight months of the year, while about 275,000 Bangladeshi workers went to Saudi Arabia during the same period. The official recruitment process for Malaysia is expected to begin by late September with the first batch of 10,000 workers, who will be exempt from recruitment fees. The Bangladeshi Prime Minister’s Information and Broadcasting Adviser Dr. Zahed Ur Rahman told reporters on Tuesday that they would travel on a special chartered flight through the government-owned Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Limited. “This would set a new precedent by bringing the cost of migration down to zero,” he said, as quoted by the state news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha. “The process of sending new workers is expected to begin toward the end of September, while registration of previously unregistered Bangladeshi workers currently residing in Malaysia is also underway.”