Paper short abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to reconstruct the labour migration theory from a narrative of Bangladeshi to the Gulf States from both known and established facts and features, and those that are not so well documented but together they give it a distinct character.

Paper long abstract:

Between 1976 and 2015, more than seven million Bangladeshi labour migrated to the Gulf States, which was equivalent to three-quarters of the total labour outmigration from the country. Remittances sent by migrants through official channels reached a record high level of US$ 14.6 billion in 2015, nearly two-thirds of which came from the sweat and blood of the temporary labour migrated to the Gulf States.

The purpose of this paper is to reconstruct the labour migration theory from a narrative of Bangladeshi to the Gulf States from both known and established facts and features, and those that are not so well documented but together they give it a distinct character. The paper goes into the depth and breadth of the inside story by digging deeper into the causal domain through an analysis of the nuances and complexities of the migration decision-making. It also highlights the important role played by migrants' social networks as well as recruitment agencies and sub-agents in inducing the crave for a 'Bhalo' visa (one that would yield better work opportunities and higher incomes) from the country's nook and cranny to the Gulf States. The narrative draws largely on the author's empirical studies and also from the secondary literature.

From the narrative the paper highlights a set of new paradigms which confront conventional wisdom. It calls for generation of new theories to take into account this paradigm shift in explaining the causalities and outcomes of labour migration.