About the Online Modules

Welcome to the online modules for migrants and migrant workers from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iraq, Tajikistan and Pakistan!

Your decision to work abroad is like every other decision in your life: make sure you know your goal and how to get there. The ability to earn bigger salaries when working abroad sounds very attractive. However, the decision to migrate elsewhere or to stay in your country is not an easy one, and you need practical preparations and a good plan for moving to a new country while preventing your worries turning into reality.

These various modules for migrants and migrant workers are prepared by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) as part of the project “Improving Migration Management in the Silk Routes Countries” supported by the European Union. It provides you with the information you need and to help you make a well-informed decision about working abroad as well as on how to cope with new living and working conditions abroad.

The modules are in three parts dealing with three major stages or cycle of migration, especially labour migration:

    a)      pre-migration or pre-employment or while a person is in the process of knowing more about his/her options in the origin country and preparing or deciding to live or work              or overseas, herein referred to as PEOS for brevity

    b)      pre-departure where the migrant workers are about to depart for work abroad, having complied with the general requirements such as getting their passport stamped by               the government (for Pakistan) or having SMART card issued (for Bangladesh), herein referred to as PDOS, and

    c)      post-arrival where migrant workers start to adjust to new working and living conditions in the job site or country of destination, herein referred to as PAOS.

The three modules are available for Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan in their respective national languages (Dari, Bengali and Urdu). For Tajikistan – two modules – pre-employment and pre-departure are available in Russian and Tajik languages. For Iraq, being a destination country of migrant workers, only the post-arrival module is available in Arabic.

In these modules, you will find information about factors to consider in deciding to seek employment overseas; how and why to take into consideration your family; advice on how to select a destination country or a recruitment agency; “dos and don’ts” on overseas works; the safe, regular and orderly migration; and the risks or dangers and consequences of irregular migration, illegal recruitment, trafficking of human beings, smuggling of people, and related issues and challenges. A special section is covering the particularities of domestic care, high skilled workers, and women in the migration process.

They also provide useful advice about all aspects of life and work abroad, and covering issues related to employment, permits, visa, accommodation and food, communication and financial services, health care and social insurance, laws and regulations, government services, support networks, and other subjects.

As working abroad requires adjustments of work and life attitude, we encourage you to read this modules and, if possible, to take advantage of the possibility to participate in one of the PEOS, PDOS or PAOS classes offered by relevant government agencies or by Migrant Resource Centres in your countries, or by Embassies, Consulates or civil society and migrant organisations within two months from the date of your arrival.

We recommend that you start with PEOS modules, to be followed by PDOS, and finally, by PAOS.

This handbook is an evolving document that will be expanded or updated regularly when new information, policy, programmes or services are available as relevant to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iraq, Tajikistan and Pakistan. All information within this handbook is accurate at the time of publication but may be subject to change.