Bangladesh: Change in Director at Government Agency May Delay Applications

Following a change in the director of the Bangladesh Investment and Development Authority (BIDA), which issues pre-work authorizations such as Letters of Recommendation (LOR) for E1/E visas and other types of work permits, our practice team has observed stricter application review. For example, for LOR for E1 visa applications, the BIDA may request additional documents such as a company’s latest audited financial statements and further supporting letters justifying the deployment of foreign nationals over locals, which are typically not required. As such, it is likely that processing times will temporarily increase for BIDA-managed applications over the regular government processing times during the next few months.