Bangladeshi Migrant Workers in Hong Kong: Adaptation Strategies in an Ethnically Distant Destination
| Author | A.K.M. Ahsan Ullah |
| Published date | 01 April 2013 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2435.2012.00779.x |
| Date | 01 April 2013 |
Bangladeshi Migrant Workers in Hong Kong:
Adaptation Strategies in an Ethnically Distant
Destination
A. K. M. Ahsan Ullah
ABSTRACT
The paper attempts to explore the adaptation-related challenges that Bangladeshi migrant work-
ers in Hong Kong face and the strategies they adopt to triumph over them. Data were collected
through administering both closed and open-ended questionnaires to 56 migrant workers in
Hong Kong during 2005–2006. The study revealed that most of the respondents stayed in
Hong Kong legally but worked illegally because of the fact that although they could extend
their stay permits, they were not grated work permits. This exclusive circumstance places them
in a number of difficult situations. In attempting to adapt to Hong Kong society, they embrace
a number of interesting and unique strategies to surmount challenges.
BACKGROUND
Due to the non-existence of a bilateral labour export-import agreement between Hong Kong and
Bangladesh, a sizeable number of potential migrant workers (MW) try to get to this city with tour-
ist permits, sometimes as transient and sometimes as tourists. Therefore, their adaptation strategies
are not same as others who set off for work elsewhere under agreements. Until December 2006,
since the handover of Hong Kong to the Chinese authority in 1997 (Raghubir, 1999), Bangladeshi
citizens were not required to obtain a visa before they travelled to Hong Kong. They were normally
granted a two weeks’permit for ingress on arrival at the airport. Migrants with a tourist visa were
not allowed to extend the permit while in Hong Kong; they had to leave Hong Kong to get their
visa extended. They preferred to leave to Shenzhen in PR China (nearest to Hong Kong) rather
than Macao because of the relatively lower travel cost. On return from Shenzhen or Macao, most
of them were offered extensions of around seven days or even less and some were denied. Eventu-
ally, those who obtained extensions ended up staying put in Hong Kong legally.
Hong Kong maintains strong surveillance system over the in- and out-flow of population. There-
fore, this population group has to be sneaky about obtaining work because they are distinct from
the Hong Kongers by colour, language and so on. Hence, MWs face a number of challenges in
adaptating to the new environment, obtaining work and simply continuing to stay. This paper aims
to investigate those challenges and how they are surmounted. In classical sociology, assimilation
means a progressive change from a more diverse to a less diverse behaviour. Assimilation theory is
* The American University in Cairo.
doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2435.2012.00779.x
© 2012 The Author
Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd., International Migration © 2012 IOM
9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK, International Migration Vol. 51 (2) 2013
and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA. ISSN 0020-7985
more applicable for longer term or permanent migrants. However, these migrants, at the outset, do
not usually move to Hong Kong to stay permanently. They move there because they have an idea
that they could easily enter European countries by using Hong Kong as a transit point. While they
are trying to get to Europe, they look for work in Hong Kong. Alba Nee (2003:30–31) defines
assimilation as the attenuation of distinctions based on ethnic origin. This theory has become appli-
cable, in Southeast Asia, specifically to the Bangladeshi diasporas in Malaysia. These diasporas
assimilated into the multiethnic community in Penang in Malaysia and put down roots (Nayeem,
2008). While to Park (1930) the socio-political theory of integration is a progressive phenomenon,
Warner and Srole (1945) consider that migrants’behaviour would eventually become similar to that
of the natives. This paradigm has been influenced by the integration experience of migrant abroad,
despite their very different ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic background (Palo et al., 2007).
In recent years, migrants from Asian countries have become remarkably visible on the global
stage (Chantavanich and Risser, 2000:14; Skeldon, 2000:370; Castles and Miller, 2003:7; IOM,
2008), and the volume, direction and composition of migration flows have changed enormously
during the post-1945 period (Appleyard, 1989:22). Today international migration has been one of
the most dynamic policy issues in the Bangladesh economy (Chin, 2002)
1
due to the fact that
migrants’remittances contribute greatly to the country’s balance of payments and to the GDP,
which was around 9 per cent in 2008 (World Bank, 2009). Therefore, this labour-rich but resource-
poor country sends huge number of skilled and unskilled workers overseas (Figure 1). Countries in
the Middle East have been one of the major destinations for Bangladeshi migrants since 1970s.
Since the mid 1990s, potential migrants have in part shifted their direction towards East and South-
east Asia (Oishi, 2002; Hasan, 2000:40; Rudnick, 1995; Ullah, 2009). However, government
records show that Bangladesh has been receiving remittances from Hong Kong for a long time.
From the financial years 1998–9 until 2008–9, Bangladesh has been receiving remittances amount-
ing on average to US$5.5 million every year. Although it was US$8.1 and US$7.9 million in the
financial years 2006–07 and 2007–08 respectively (Bangladesh Bank, 2009), no official data were
available on the number of migrants from Bangladesh to Hong Kong. MWs in Hong Kong gener-
ally constitute three categories: domestic, construction, and those in the employment pool created
by the Supplementary Labour Scheme. Southeast Asian migration flow to Hong Kong is currently
252702
381516
832609
875055
272958
254190
225256
188965
222686
R2 = 0.6789
0
100000
200000
300000
400000
500000
600000
700000
800000
900000
1000000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
FIGURE 1
TOTAL RECORDED MIGRATION FROM BANGLADESH (2000–2008). SOURCE: BMET, 2009
166 Ullah
© 2012 The Author. International Migration © 2012 IOM
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