Immigration Halts New Visas for Bangladesh Businesses

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Immigration Halts New Visas for Bangladesh Nationals Amid Crackdown on Business Expansion

The Immigration Department has stopped issuing new visas to Bangladeshi nationals as it seeks stronger collaboration with Guadalcanal Province and the Honiara City Council (HCC) to crack down on the rapid expansion of Bangladeshi-run businesses in the city and surrounding areas.

At the same time, the Foreign Investment Board (FIB) has confirmed it will conduct a second inspection of Bangladeshi-owned businesses soon.

Commissioner of Labour Brown Penuel Pwai told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that government records for the first and second quarter of this year show only three percent of work-permit holders were Bangladeshi—and all were renewals, not new permits.

Director of the Foreign Investment Division, Lynnette Dawheya, informed PAC that Guadalcanal Province has already designated specific areas where Bangladeshi businesses are allowed to operate—from the eastern end near Corona Market to the western boundary at Kavare in Kakabona.

Responding to a question from the MP for East Central Guadalcanal, Lazarus Alfred Rimah, about the rising number of Bangladeshi businesses in the province, Director of Immigration Christopher Akosawa said many of them entered the country through irregular migration during a period when the Immigration Department lacked the Border Management System (BMS).

Akosawa confirmed that Immigration has now halted all new Bangladeshi entries, particularly for retail and wholesale businesses, as these sectors are reserved for Solomon Islanders.

He said closer coordination with Guadalcanal Province, HCC, the Labour Division, and the Foreign Investment Board is essential.

“We have to work together with Labour, Foreign Investment, HCC, and GP. They are important stakeholders on the Bangladesh issue,” Akosawa said.

He added that many operators arrive legally but then take advantage of loopholes by securing HCC and GP business licences for activities outside designated development zones.

“I am looking forward to working with HCC, Labour, and GP to close down businesses operating outside the development centres. It is a real concern that these people are using the gaps,” he said.

Explaining the process for obtaining a work permit, Labour Commissioner Pwai said a business must first register with the Foreign Investment Division, after which Labour handles work-permit applications before Immigration issues visas.

He said that in both the first and second quarters, only three percent of work-permit applications came from Bangladesh nationals, confirming they were all renewals.

“When I took office last year, there were not really any new work-permit applications from Bangladesh,” Pwai said.