(NORTH MACEDONIA) Embassy officials in North Macedonia and Serbia say the widespread use of fraudulent work permits by Bangladeshi nationals has pushed both countries to halt issuing new permits to this group, and they warn that visas could be next. The freeze has been in place for two months as of late October 2025, and embassies report that fake documents are still flooding their counters despite the suspension, heightening fears that legitimate routes into Europe could close for thousands of workers.
The scale of the fraud is stark. Roughly 90% of work permits submitted by Bangladeshi applicants to North Macedonia’s embassy have been found to be fake, according to embassy findings. Serbia is facing the same problem, with officials describing pervasive forgery across work visa files. North Macedonian Ambassador Slobodan Uzunov said the surge has left little room for trust in the process. “For the last two months, North Macedonia has not issued any work permits to Bangladeshis. Yet, some dishonest groups are continuously applying with fake permits. If this situation does not change, we will soon stop issuing visas to Bangladeshi citizens altogether,” he said. That threat reflects a broader concern that a small number of criminal groups are using a high volume of fake records to poison the well for everyone else.
Officials in both countries describe an organized, layered operation that seeks to outpace checks at multiple points. Fraudsters begin by creating counterfeit work permits and filing visa applications in workers’ names. When those are rejected, they escalate. In cases documented by North Macedonian authorities, criminal groups produced fake visa stickers and placed them directly into passports. They then presented the forged visas and other papers to Bangladesh’s Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training to obtain legitimate Smart Cards. A Smart Card, issued by BMET, can make a case look official, especially to a worker who may not be familiar with how European permits are verified. The final step is a booked flight to Europe. Many workers only discover the ruse at the border, where immigration officers promptly spot the counterfeit visa and turn them away.
Police in North Macedonia recently arrested four members of a Bangladeshi human trafficking gang as the fraud grew bolder, a case serious enough to be raised at the country’s National Security Council. Law enforcement says the networks are expert at recruiting Bangladeshi migrants already living abroad, especially in the Middle East, by pushing glossy promises on social media. They highlight supposed high wages, quick visa approvals, and easy travel. Much of it is fiction, but the pitch can sound persuasive to workers with few options and pressures at home.
For victims, the fallout is financial and personal. Many sell land, take out loans with high interest, or borrow from relatives to pay intermediaries who promise a clean path to Europe. One Bangladeshi worker, Majedul Islam, said he applied for a Serbian worker visa in May 2025 through an agency. He watched as the agency took over his online profile and changed his login details, then insisted a visa sticker would arrive within a month. It never did. Authorities later confirmed the visa was never approved, yet the agency had kept pushing, an example of how scammers try to stay one step ahead of official checks by juggling logins, email accounts, and forged paperwork.
Officials and diplomats say this is not just a Balkan story. Italy, a major destination for Bangladeshi migrants, is now grappling with its own wave of irregular files. The Italian Ambassador to Bangladesh, Antonio Alessandro, said that one in five visa applications to Italy includes problematic or irregular documents. He has also warned that many migrants pay illegal middlemen “very high amounts of money” without knowing where they will end up, what job they will be offered, or even the name of the supposed employer. Those red flags—vague job details, fees demanded up front, and third parties claiming special access—appear repeatedly in cases across Europe.
The same dynamic is visible elsewhere. Pakistani migrants have been reported paying up to £50,000 for error-filled or false visa applications. Some of those files have even slipped through to approval. Pakistani asylum applications to the United Kingdom rose sharply—up 80% between 2023 and 2024, reaching 10,542 applications, the most from any single country in that period. While those asylum figures represent a different path than work migration, they show the intensifying pressure and the market that fraudsters exploit across borders, promising a fast lane where none exists.
In an assessment published in 2014, the European Commission noted that several European countries were receiving fraudulent documents from Bangladeshi asylum seekers, with officials in the Netherlands reporting that “it seems to be very easy to get access to several types of [fraudulent] documents.” Those findings predate the current crisis in North Macedonia and Serbia but point to a long-running industry in forged paperwork that can be adapted quickly to new routes and new rules. That speed makes it harder for officials to verify records at each stage of the process.
Ambassador Alessandro has tried to set expectations by explaining how Italy’s legal entry system works in practice. He described four steps: a company must secure a sponsorship, the work permit must be approved, the embassy must issue a visa, and immigration officers make the final decision at the border. Completing the first two steps provides no guarantee of entry, he said, “because the sponsorship is fake, the working permit is counterfeited and for many other reasons.” In other words, authorities at each checkpoint will review the file again. For fraudsters, any gap between those checkpoints—different databases, different agencies—can be a chance to slip forged documents into the chain and push a case forward.
These schemes have ripple effects beyond those caught in them. The temporary halts in North Macedonia and Serbia cut off avenues that employers and workers had been using legitimately, particularly in sectors with high demand for labor. If the fraud persists, officials say comprehensive visa suspensions for Bangladeshi nationals could follow in both countries, choking off a route for job seekers and cutting into remittance flows that support families back home. Italy hosts the largest Bangladeshi community in the European Union, and in 2022 they sent about 1.2 billion euros in remittances to Bangladesh. That money pays school fees, hospital bills, and food; its loss would be felt quickly in households and villages that depend on steady work abroad.
Honest applicants now face longer waits and greater uncertainty. In regions with heavy demand, especially in South Asia and Africa, getting a consulate appointment can take months. Some recruitment agencies report backlogs stretching into 2025, complicating planning for employers in agriculture, construction, and hospitality. Those sectors often depend on timely seasonal hiring; delays make it harder to match workers to jobs, and every fraudulent application adds more load to the system. The more time consular staff spend detecting fake permits, the less time they have to process genuine files.
Officials urge workers to be skeptical of offers that involve large payments or third-party “agents.” Swiss authorities warn that for non-EU and non-EFTA nationals, genuine job opportunities in Switzerland typically require high skills, a university degree, and years of experience. Most legal processes do not involve middlemen at all, and legitimate employers cover the relevant costs. Requests for money, demands for secrecy, or promises of “guaranteed” approvals are clear warning signs. Workers should verify job offers directly with the employer using separate contact channels and be alert to impersonation. A forged letter on company letterhead is simple to produce; an independent verification call to the company’s main switchboard is harder for scammers to fake.
The patterns seen in Serbia and North Macedonia also reflect a broader coordination problem. Investigations often involve multiple institutions in at least two countries—the embassy issuing a visa, local police, labor ministries, and border control. When information-sharing is slow, fraudsters exploit the delay. Some deterrence tools already exist, such as inspections, fines, or criminal penalties. But their impact depends on how likely it is that fraud will be found and enforced. Many workers hesitate to report exploitation because they fear losing their chance to travel or being deported, and that hesitation makes criminal networks bolder.
Both Balkan embassies say the immediate priority is to protect the integrity of the system so that it can reopen safely. That means filtering out fake files quickly, pursuing arrests where possible, and working with Bangladeshi authorities to identify document vendors. The recent arrests in North Macedonia show that police are taking aim at the supply side. Still, officials caution that the demand side—the constant stream of hopeful applicants—will continue to attract new fraud schemes unless there is clearer public guidance and faster ways to confirm what is genuine and what is not.
The challenge is also technical. In many cases, verification systems are not fully connected. A fake visa sticker might look convincing on paper but fail an electronic check if databases are linked. Strengthening those links and standardizing queries between consulates, labor agencies, and border officers could help close the loopholes that criminal groups rely on. The European Union has been trying to improve data-sharing across borders, and officials say better connections can reduce both errors and fraud. For basic information on legal routes and policy, the European Commission – Migration and Home Affairs portal provides official guidance, although diplomats stress that no website, however thorough, can replace checks by the issuing authorities themselves.
Inside Bangladesh, pressure is growing to act against the brokers and their networks. BMET Smart Cards are meant to protect workers by confirming official status, but fraudsters have turned them into props to make a fake case look real. Advocates say a stronger link between card issuance and embassy approvals could help. They also urge clearer public messaging that workers should never pay middlemen for visas, sponsorships, or job placement abroad. Immigration news outlets, including VisaVerge.com, have carried repeated warnings about scams that ask for payments in cash, cryptocurrency, or wire transfers—methods that make it hard for victims to recover money or prove a crime.
For now, the lock on work permits in Serbia and North Macedonia continues, and so does the flow of fake applications. Embassy officials say they are still seeing a steady stream of files in which the core document—the work permit—fails basic checks. Each fraudulent file slows the line for genuine applicants. And every day the suspension remains in place makes it more likely that a wider visa ban will follow, cutting off access for workers who played by the rules and were counting on an open door.
Workers who have already applied and now find themselves in limbo face hard choices. Some will try to salvage their plans by seeking legitimate employers and starting over. Others may abandon the process, burdened by debt. The human cost is obvious in phone calls home and in the growing number of people who say they were promised one path and pushed into another. If there is a way out of the current deadlock, officials argue it lies in patient, coordinated enforcement and in rapid verification tools that strip the value out of a fake work permit. Until then, North Macedonia and Serbia will keep their guard up, and the people least responsible for the fraud—the honest workers—will keep paying the highest price.
This Article in a Nutshell
North Macedonia and Serbia have suspended issuing new work permits to Bangladeshi nationals after discovering extensive fraud in visa and permit applications. Embassy audits show roughly 90% of work permits submitted to North Macedonia were counterfeit; Serbia reports similar patterns. Criminal networks create forged work permits and visa stickers, then exploit BMET Smart Cards to make cases appear legitimate, sending workers to Europe only for border checks to reveal the falsifications. Arrests in North Macedonia targeted trafficking operatives, but officials warn continued fraud could lead to broader visa bans, longer waits for genuine applicants, and major disruptions to remittance flows. Authorities call for stronger cross-border verification, more rapid information-sharing, and public warnings to discourage payment to unscrupulous intermediaries.
