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Japan to start hiring Bangladeshi workers from April 2027 under new labour deal

The expatriates' welfare ministry says the employment skills memorandum signed on 17 October runs for five years and renews automatically, but it has not yet said how many workers will be taken, in which sectors or on what pay.

ScrollBeat DeskPublished: 19 Oct 2026, 19:41Updated: 19 Oct 2026, 19:41

Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, the main departure point for Bangladeshi migrant workers. Photo: Tarunsamanta, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) Tarunsamanta / Wikimedia Commons

Japan will begin recruiting workers from Bangladesh on 1 April 2027 under a memorandum of cooperation on employment skills development signed on 17 October, the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment said.

The ministry announced the agreement in a press release issued on Sunday, 18 October. The ministry secretary signed for Bangladesh, while representatives of Japan's Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and National Police Agency signed for Japan.

The initial term is five years and the deal will renew automatically for another five years, giving it a total run of 10 years. Copies of the memorandum are to be formally exchanged during Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's upcoming visit to Japan.

Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Ariful Haque Chowdhury said Bangladeshi workers would receive legal protection equal to that of Japanese workers and would have equal opportunities regardless of gender.

He said female workers could not be dismissed or treated unfairly because of pregnancy or childbirth, and that the agreement contains no provision requiring them to be sent home for those reasons. The deal is also meant to give workers skills development, higher wages and the chance of a longer stay in Japan, he added.

The ministry did not say how many workers Japan will take, which sectors will be open to them, or what pay and other conditions will apply. Those details were not included in the announcement.

For Bangladeshi jobseekers, the agreement sets the start date for recruitment, but the practical terms will only become clear once Japan publishes the sectors, quotas and wages.

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A classroom at Habibullah Bahar College in Dhaka on 27 March 2018. Representative photo; it is not from the scholarship announcement. Yahya / Wikimedia Commons

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