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BMET clearance fee: where does your Tk 4,500 go, and which receipts should Bangladeshi workers keep?

Tips · 2026-10-12 · 10 min read

The BMET clearance fee is a short list, not a single payment. BMET's citizen charter sets the welfare fee and insurance premium at Tk 3,500 plus Tk 1,000 (Tk 4,500 together), an emigration clearance fee of Tk 250 per worker, and a source income tax that depends on your visa. On an attested individual visa those lines add up to about Tk 5,000, and every one of them should leave a receipt in your hand. Below is what each taka is for, and which papers to keep.

The fee list on BMET's citizen charter

BMET, the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, issues emigration clearance to workers hired abroad. At home people call it the manpower card, the smart card or simply BMET clearance. The amounts below are the ones in the citizen charter on bmet.gov.bd, so compare them yourself before you pay anybody.

BMET's stated turnaround for clearance is 3 working days. The documents, the Pre-departure Orientation and the airport check are covered in our BMET smart card checklist, so this post stays with the money.

Where the Tk 3,500 welfare fee goes

BOESL, the state-owned company that sends workers abroad, prints this Tk 3,500 line in its own cost table as the "wage earners welfare fee". That name points to the Wage Earners' Welfare Board, whose services are open to workers who hold BMET emigration clearance or Board membership. This is what stands behind the payment:

• At the airport. Probashi Kallyan Desks at Dhaka, Chattogram and Sylhet help departing and returning workers through immigration, customs, airline and boarding steps without charging for it.
• On the phone. The Probashbandhu call centre answers workers and their families day and night on 16135, toll-free inside Bangladesh.
• If you come home injured or sick. Up to Tk 2 lakh towards treatment, once the Board has checked the application and spoken with you on a video call.
• If the worst happens abroad. A grant of Tk 3 lakh sent to the family's bank account, and a Tk 35,000 cheque handed over at the airport desk for transport and burial.

Tell your family where your clearance papers are kept and the date on them, because the grant depends on the worker having had clearance or membership, and the insurance clock described next starts from that date.

What the Tk 1,000 insurance premium covers

Insurance has been compulsory for Bangladeshi workers leaving for jobs abroad since 19 December 2019, so the premium is not an optional extra.

The Board's own charter describes two claims it helps with. If a worker dies, at home or abroad, within 5 years of the emigration clearance or membership date, the Board helps the family claim Tk 10 lakh. If a worker loses the job abroad and returns home within 6 months, the Board helps with a claim of Tk 50 thousand.

Income tax at clearance: find your own line

The third charge is income tax collected at clearance, and it is the easiest one to get wrong because the charter shows five different amounts. On an individual visa it lists Tk 400 when the visa is unattested and Tk 250 when it is attested, with a separate Tk 500 line for Saudi Arabia only. On a group visa it lists Tk 1,200 for a skilled worker and Tk 800 for an unskilled worker.

Did you find your Australian or New Zealand employer yourself, with no Bangladeshi recruiting agency in between? Then read the charter's section for a worker who got a visa through their own effort. Those workers apply at BMET's emigration branch or at the Chattogram DEMO (District Employment and Manpower Office).

Two sums on the charter's figures. Attested individual visa: Tk 4,500 plus Tk 250 plus Tk 250 comes to Tk 5,000. Unattested individual visa: Tk 4,500 plus Tk 250 plus Tk 400 comes to Tk 5,150. Add Tk 300 for the stamp paper in both cases. The own-effort section also names a Tk 250 smart certificate fee, the same amount as the per-worker clearance fee, so ask the counter whether that is one payment or two. Your receipt will settle it.

Charges for registration or for the Pre-departure Orientation are outside these figures. Ask your DEMO what applies, and take a receipt.

Keep every one of those receipts: if an agency ever takes more than it should, our guide to how to complain against a recruiting agency in Bangladesh explains where that evidence goes and what each route can do for you.

Paying the BMET clearance fee and keeping proof

1. Note the charter lines that apply to you: welfare fee, insurance premium, clearance fee and one source income tax amount.
2. Ask the emigration branch, or your nearest DEMO, whether your visa counts as individual or group, attested or unattested.
3. Have the pay order made for the welfare and insurance fee. BMET asks for the original, so photocopy it before you hand it in.
4. Buy the Tk 300 non-judicial stamp and write your undertaking on it.
5. If a recruiting agency files for you, look up its RL number and licence status on BMET's public list of recruiting agencies, then ask to see its pay order for the welfare and smart card fee and its challan for the source income tax. The agency has to submit both originals, so both exist.
6. Pay an agency only by cheque, pay order or bank draft, as BMET advises, and keep every copy with your passport.

How small this bill is beside the visa charge

The base application charge for Australia's Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) is AUD 4,015.00. At Bangladesh Bank's ask rate of 85.7863 taka per Australian dollar on 8 October 2026, that is roughly Tk 344,400. That is a rough comparison at one day's published rate, and rates move. New Zealand's Accredited Employer Work Visa costs from NZD $1540. Our guides to the Skills in Demand (482) visa and the Accredited Employer Work Visa explain what those charges are for.

So BMET's lines are a thin slice of the total. That matters when a probashi-to-be is handed one big figure "for manpower and processing". Ask for it split into the charter's lines. Under section 21 of the Overseas Employment and Migrants Act, 2013 the Government can cap migration costs by order, and a licence applicant has to promise on affidavit not to take more than the amount the Government fixes.

In Australia the sponsoring employer must pay the costs of becoming a sponsor and nominating a worker and cannot move them onto the visa holder, and paying an employer for sponsorship is illegal. In New Zealand, employers cannot charge you fees for a job or make you cover their recruitment costs. Home Affairs sets out the Australian rule on its cost of sponsoring a worker page.

One official cost sheet, line by line

For a sense of proportion, look at the category-wise migration cost table on boesl.gov.bd. Its entry for Australia, Skilled category, is marked "Proposed" and totals 41,250 BDT. Treat it as a reference, not a current intake.

The service charge and its VAT make up most of the total. The welfare and smart card lines match BMET's charter. The insurance line is lower than the charter's Tk 1,000 premium, so go by what BMET's counter asks for on the day.

If you are still searching, browse the current manufacturing jobs in Australia and New Zealand, or read an opening such as the fitter, turner and welder role in Christchurch to see what employers ask for.

Common mistakes with BMET clearance fees

• Paying one lump sum in cash to a dalal. BMET warns workers never to rely on a middleman, because it can end in lost money and in human trafficking.
• Treating the welfare fee as money gone. It is your link to the airport desks, the call centre and the family support listed above.
• Confusing BMET's taka fees with the visa charge. They go to different governments.
• Believing that extra money will "secure" the job or the visa. Taking money on a false promise of overseas work is an offence under section 31 of the 2013 Act, punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of at least 1 lakh Taka.

Frequently asked questions

How much is the BMET clearance fee in total?

On BMET's citizen charter the welfare fee and insurance premium come to Tk 4,500 and the emigration clearance fee is Tk 250 per worker. Source income tax is added on top: Tk 250 or Tk 400 on an individual visa, Tk 800 or Tk 1,200 on a group visa. An attested individual visa therefore comes to about Tk 5,000 before the Tk 300 stamp paper.

Is the manpower card fee the same as the smart card fee?

Manpower card, smart card and BMET clearance are everyday names for one thing, the emigration clearance. The charter lists an emigration clearance fee of Tk 250 per worker, and BOESL's cost table shows a Tk 250 line called the smart card fee. Ask the counter to confirm what your receipt covers.

Does the fee change if I am going to Australia or New Zealand?

The charter's fee list does not name Australia or New Zealand. Its only country-specific amount is the Tk 500 source income tax line for Saudi Arabia. What changes your bill is the visa type: individual or group, attested or unattested.

What can I do if I was charged far more than the charter shows?

Send a signed application with your evidence to the Director General of BMET. The charter says a complaint against a recruiting agency carries no fee and is settled within 30 working days after an inquiry and a hearing.

Can I borrow the money for these costs?

BMET's safe-migration checklist points workers who need money to migrate to a collateral-free loan from Probashi Kallyan Bank. Its migration loan goes up to Tk 3.00 lakh at 9% simple interest a year, for up to 3 years.

Key takeaways

• The BMET clearance fee is a list: Tk 3,500 welfare fee, Tk 1,000 insurance premium, Tk 250 clearance fee and a source income tax set by your visa type.
• An attested individual visa adds up to about Tk 5,000 on the charter's figures, plus Tk 300 for stamp paper.
• The welfare fee and the premium stand behind real help: airport desks, the 16135 call centre, treatment support and insurance claims of Tk 10 lakh and Tk 50 thousand.
• Keep copies of the pay order, the tax challan and the undertaking, and pay an agency only through a bank.
• Beside a 482 visa charge of roughly Tk 344,400, BMET's lines are small, so question any large unexplained "BMET" figure.

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