Work permit & clearance
Permission to employ, not merely permission to enter
A visa admits a person to Bangladesh. A work permit authorises the employment. Treating them as one step is the single most common compliance failure we are called in to repair.
The chain
Four gates, in order
- 01
Establish the governing authority
A company in general domestic territory is a BIDA matter; inside an economic zone it is BEZA; inside an EPZ it is BEPZA; in a Hi-Tech Park it is BHTPA. The same employee generates a different file in each.
- 02
Prove the recruitment case
The authority wants to see why the role could not be filled locally, how the expatriate-to-local ratio is respected, and that the salary and contract match the declared position.
- 03
Security clearance
Special Branch and, where relevant, NSI review the applicant. This is the step most often underestimated: it runs on its own clock and is not accelerated by commercial urgency.
- 04
Issue, registration and renewal
Once the permit issues, arrival registration, visa endorsement and the renewal calendar must be tracked together — a lapsed permit puts both the employee and the employer at risk.
Work permit and security clearance — the parallel tracks
The permit and the clearance run on different clocks. Filing them in sequence rather than in parallel is what usually costs a project a month.
| Track | Authority | Key inputs | Indicative timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work permit (new) | BIDA / BEZA / BEPZA | Appointment letter, company documents, expatriate ratio justification | 3–8 weeks |
| Security clearance | SB, NSI, Ministry of Home Affairs | Personal particulars, passport, employer undertaking | 4–12 weeks |
| Visa endorsement / extension | Department of Immigration and Passports | Recommendation letter, permit acknowledgement | 2–4 weeks |
| Renewal cycle | Issuing authority | Tax return, salary remittance record, permit performance | File 60 days before expiry |
Talk to us
Bringing a team in this quarter?
Send us the roles, the zone and the intended arrival dates. We will map the permit files against your commissioning schedule.