Work Permits and Visas for Foreign Nationals in Bangladesh: E and PI Visas, Fees, Ratios, Extension and Cancellation

In this guide: Visa classes and the recommendation · The work permit file · Ratios, the five-year ceiling and who is not approved · Tax, salary remittance and the person's obligations · Extension, amendment and cancellation · Zones, NGOs and the open questions

The short answer

Before the person travels, the employer applies on the One Stop Service for a visa recommendation naming the post, the salary and the visa class; the Bangladesh mission issues the visa on it, usually within a week. Within 15 days of arrival the employer applies for the work permit on the same portal with the passport and visa, the appointment letter, the person’s CV and qualifications, the company’s Invest Bangladesh registration, the encashment certificate showing US$50,000 of inward remittance for a foreign-owned company, the board resolution, the list of local staff to prove the ratio, and the security-clearance filing; pays Tk 5,000 plus VAT; and receives a permit for one year, extended on the same fee for up to five years in total. The person then takes a TIN, is taxed on Bangladesh income through payroll, and may remit up to 80% of net salary each month. When the employment ends the employer cancels the permit with the person’s tax clearance, because an uncancelled permit blocks the company’s next application and the office’s closure. The checker below tests the ratio, the fee and the remittance condition for your case; the sections then take each step in turn.

Visa classes and the recommendation

The visa recommendation is free and issued through the One Stop Service within 24 hours of a complete application: the employer’s registration, the post and its justification, the salary, the person’s passport and qualifications, and for a foreign-owned company the US$50,000 encashment certificate. A person who arrives on a business or tourist visa and then takes up employment has to convert the visa, and since 2024 the window for arranging a work permit after a visit visa has been cut; the right order is recommendation, visa, arrival, permit. Visa on arrival (US$50, 30 days, single entry) remains for some nationalities but the Government decided in April 2025 to stop it for nationals of countries where Bangladesh has a mission; check the mission’s current list before relying on it. Our company registration guide explains the encashment certificate that the recommendation depends on.

The work permit file

1. Employer’s standing: Invest Bangladesh registration (or the office permission for a liaison, branch or project office; or the zone authority’s registration), trade licence, TIN and, for a foreign-owned or joint venture company, the encashment certificate for at least US$50,000 of inward remittance.
2. The post: appointment letter stating designation, salary and benefits, term and place of work; a justification of why the post needs a foreign national (skill, experience, technology transfer) and a plan to train a local replacement; the organogram and the list of local employees with their NIDs to establish the ratio.
3. The person: passport with the E or PI visa, photographs, CV, academic and professional certificates (apostilled or attested where asked), the employer’s undertaking to meet the person’s liabilities, and a declaration of any other employment.
4. Corporate: board resolution to employ and to apply; Form XII where the person is a director.
5. Security clearance: since 30 September 2025 the clearance request is filed only through the One Stop Service with the application; it is deemed granted if no objection is raised within 21 working days, and the permit is cancelled if the clearance filing is not made within the time the permit sets.
6. Fee Tk 5,000 per person per year plus 15% VAT, paid online; the permit is downloaded from the portal.

The documents list was shortened from 34 to 11 items in October 2025; the items above are what the portal actually asks for on a company application in late 2026, and the desk still queries ratios and justifications more than paperwork. Apply within 15 days of arrival: a late application is accepted with an explanation but is a mark against the next renewal.

Ratios, the five-year ceiling and who is not approved

The published local-to-foreign ratios are 10:1 for an industrial project at the construction or start-up stage and 20:1 once it is in operation, and 5:1 for a commercial office or educational institution; a 2023 Guidelines reading of 1:5 at the start and 1:10 in operation for non-manufacturing employers also circulates, and the desk applies the ratio it reads for the particular employer, so we confirm it before the organogram is filed. Exemptions exist for technology-transfer posts and for projects at the construction stage with a demonstrated need, on a written justification.

A permit is issued for one year and extended a year at a time to a total of five years, after which Invest Bangladesh expects the post to be localised; since late 2025 the five-year ceiling is enforced, and moving the same person between companies in a group to restart the count is noticed and refused. In April 2025 the Government decided not to approve foreign nationals for posts with sufficient local supply (machine operators, technicians, mid-level managers and similar) and not to renew permits for general workers; applications for such posts should expect refusal unless the justification is specific and documented. Directors and investors on PI visas are treated more flexibly on the ratio, but they too hold work permits and are counted.

Tax, salary remittance and the person's obligations

A foreign national pays Bangladesh income tax on income earned here from the first day. If the person is resident for the tax year (183 days or more in the year, or the shorter cumulative test in the Income Tax Act 2023), tax is at the individual slab rates with the normal threshold; if non-resident, at the flat non-resident rate of 30% without the threshold. The employer withholds through payroll each month, the person takes a TIN and files a return by the ordinary deadline, and the tax office issues the tax clearance certificate that the work-permit cancellation and the person’s final departure require. Under Bangladesh Bank’s outward-remittance circular an expatriate may remit up to 80% of net after-tax salary through the employer’s bank each month, and the balance after the year’s assessment; benefits in kind are taxable at their prescribed values. Our expatriate income tax guide covers residence, the treaty position and the return.

On the employer: employing a foreign national without a work permit, or beyond its terms, carries additional income tax of 50% of the tax payable or Tk 5 lakh, whichever is higher, and prosecution with imprisonment of up to three years and a fine, provisions carried into the Income Tax Act 2023 from the former ss.16B and 165C of the 1984 Ordinance (the 2023 section numbers are confirmed on instruction). Immigration adds overstay fines and, since 2024, fines for working without a permit. The commercial consequence is more immediate: a company with an irregular foreign employee does not get its next visa recommendation.

Extension, amendment and cancellation

• Extension: apply before expiry with the current permit, the updated appointment letter, the tax return and TIN of the person, the employer’s updated local-staff list and the fee; Tk 5,000 per person per year plus VAT, 72 hours stated. An extension application after expiry is treated as a fresh application with an explanation.
• Amendment (designation, salary, address, transfer within the group): Tk 1,000 plus VAT, 48 hours stated.
• Cancellation: when the employment ends, on resignation, termination or departure. The file is the permit, the person’s tax clearance certificate, the employer’s letter and the final settlement; the Invest Bangladesh schedule lists the fee at Tk 5,000 per person plus VAT while an older BIDA page lists cancellation as free, so budget the fee. Cancellation is not optional: an uncancelled permit shows the person as still employed, blocks the employer’s next recommendation and must be cleared before a liaison or branch office can close (see our office guide).
• Change of employer: the old employer cancels, the new employer obtains a fresh recommendation and permit; the five-year count continues.

Zones, NGOs and the open questions

Inside an export processing zone the employer applies to BEPZA for both the visa recommendation and the work permit; in a hi-tech park to the Hi-Tech Park Authority; an NGO to the NGO Affairs Bureau, which has its own ratio and tenure rules. Enterprises in the economic zones formerly under BEZA now deal with Invest Bangladesh’s economic-zone wing, and whether their permits issue directly from Invest Bangladesh or through the former BEZA office is one of the points the 2026 merger has not yet settled in a published rule. Two more are open: the cancellation fee conflict noted above, and the statutory time limits the Invest Bangladesh Act 2026 promises for visas and permits, which will replace the “stated” times in this guide once the rules fix them. We update this page as the notifications appear.