Two routes, one start: how we brought groups from Kyrgyzstan and Bangladesh in the same week

01 / Order

A new line and a team of twenty-four

The plastic packaging plant had installed a new line and was due to launch it in three months. The launch needed twelve operators with experience on similar equipment and twelve packers. Olena, who runs company projects at WORKIN, wrote down the plant's main condition at the first meeting: the whole team had to arrive together, so that training and the introduction to the shop floor happened at the same time.

The plant did not name a country: HR asked us to work out where to find the people. We looked at what matters for each role. Operators need to understand the technologist and supervisors quickly, so language comes first: in Kyrgyzstan many people have worked at plastics and packaging plants and speak Russian, as do the plant's technologist and supervisors. Packers need less language and more attentiveness and a stable group: our partner had already put together such groups for packing sections in Bangladesh, and Arif speaks with people in Bengali. One country for all twenty-four places would have meant either a language barrier for operators or a longer search for experienced people. We proposed two countries, the plant agreed but asked for one thing: neither group should wait for the other in Ukraine.

That was the whole difficulty of the project. Citizens of Kyrgyzstan enter without a visa, and the route takes four to seven weeks. Citizens of Bangladesh need a D visa, and the route takes eight to twelve weeks. File for both groups on the same day, and the Kyrgyz group is ready six weeks early.

Who is needed

12 experienced operators and 12 packers

Countries

Kyrgyzstan and Bangladesh

Timing

Line launch in three months

Plant's condition

Both groups arrive in the same week

02 / Calendar

Counting back from the start date

Olena built the calendar not from the filing date but from the line's start date. From there she counted back a week for handing people over to the plant, then arrival, then a separate route for each group. The result was two separate tracks that meet in one week.

The Bangladesh track started first, because its longest stage is the consulate. The Kyrgyzstan track started four weeks later. We left a margin between stages on both tracks, and the last margin, the week before arrival, was shared by both groups.

We also checked the 90-day term within which an employment contract must be signed after a permit is issued. The Bangladesh permits are issued earlier, so their 90 days run out first. In the calendar the contracts are signed in week twelve, well before that term ends, so even if the consulate delayed the visas by several weeks, there would still be room.

1. Weeks 1-2

   Bangladesh: interviews, information sheets, certificates ordered.

2. Weeks 4-5

   Bangladesh: 12 permits filed and issued, D visa packages.

3. Weeks 5-6

   Kyrgyzstan: interviews with the plant's technologist, information sheets.

4. Weeks 6-9

   Bangladesh: consulate stage. Kyrgyzstan: candidates' documents.

5. Weeks 8-9

   Kyrgyzstan: 12 permits filed and issued.

6. Week 11

   Both groups arrive, housing, contracts.

7. Week 12

   Team handed over to the plant, line launch.

03 / Two routes

How the routes from Kyrgyzstan and Bangladesh differ

For the plant both routes look the same: a request, a contract with WORKIN, the company's documents for filing, a list of people and an arrival date. The difference sits on our side. Nataliia, head of our documents team, collected the company's documents once using the checklist, and for each filing wave we only added the candidates' packages.

The information sheets for both groups had the same content: the plant and dormitory address, the job title and salary from the contract, which documents to collect, what the border officers may ask and how to reach the manager. Only the language and the visa document list differed. That way we knew both groups would arrive with the same understanding of the terms.

04 / Selection

Interviews in Dhaka and Bishkek a month apart

Arif, our manager for workers from Bangladesh and Nepal, started first. Together with our licensed partner in Dhaka he held interviews in Bengali, went through the information sheet with every candidate and approved twelve packers and three in reserve. The candidates started collecting their certificates right away, because on the visa route they take the most time.

A month later Azamat, our manager for workers from Kyrgyzstan, took over his part. He selected operators in Bishkek and Osh together with our partner, and the plant's technologist held the final video call with every candidate: which materials they know, which equipment they have worked on and for how many years. The technologist approved twelve operators and two in reserve.

1. 01

   Bangladesh, weeks 1-2

   Interviews in Bengali in Dhaka, 12 packers and 3 in reserve, certificates ordered at once.

2. 02

   Kyrgyzstan, weeks 5-6

   Selection in Bishkek and Osh, a call with the plant's technologist, 12 operators and 2 in reserve.

3. 03

   Shared by both

   The same information sheet content, one housing address, one contact in the plant's HR team.

4. 04

   Reserve

   Reserve candidates in both countries knew they could travel in the same wave.

05 / Permit amendment

Nurbek's new passport and thirty days for the amendment

The permits for the Kyrgyz group were issued in week nine. A few days later Nurbek, one of the operators, wrote to Azamat: his passport had been damaged by water, and he had already been issued a new one. The passport number in the permit no longer matched the passport he would cross the border with.

The employment law provides for permit amendments in such cases. The employer files an application within 30 days of the new passport being issued, no state fee is charged, and the decision is made within three working days. There was no need to replace Nurbek: his place in the group stayed, the documents just had to be brought into line.

Nataliia prepared the application the day after Nurbek sent a copy of his new passport, the plant signed it and we filed it. The decision came in two working days. Azamat checked that the new passport number in the updated data matched character for character, and only then put Nurbek on the ticket list with the group.

What happened

A candidate's new passport after the permit was issued

What we filed

An application to amend the permit

Filing term

30 days from receiving the new passport

Fee

None

Decision

Within three working days, came in two

06 / Synchronisation

Tickets for Kyrgyzstan only after the Bangladesh visas

The most important decision in the project was about tickets. The visa-free group is ready to travel as soon as the permits are issued, and its tickets could have been bought in week nine. But if the consulate delayed the Bangladesh visas, the Kyrgyz group would arrive early and wait in the dormitory, which is exactly what the plant had asked to avoid.

So we agreed a simple rule with the plant: tickets for both groups are bought once all twelve packers have their visas in hand. Azamat told his group that the departure date would be known after news from the consulate and explained why. People understood: they were travelling to a line launch together with colleagues from another country.

The Bangladesh visas were issued on schedule, in week ten. The same day Olena agreed the arrival dates with the plant, Arif and Azamat bought tickets for their groups, and the shared margin week was not needed.

• permits for the longer route are filed first, for the shorter one four weeks later;
• the 90-day contract term is checked for the group whose permits were issued first;
• tickets for both groups are bought after the visas for the visa group;
• arrivals are set in the same week but on different days, so each group is met separately.

07 / Handover

Two arrivals in one week and a shared first day at the plant

The Bangladesh group arrived on Tuesday and the Kyrgyz group on Thursday. Arif and Azamat met their people and took them to the plant's dormitory. We had assigned rooms before arrival, by group and language, so that everyone lived with people they could talk to, and we had checked the dormitory documents for address registration and residence permits several weeks earlier as part of living support.

On Monday both groups came to the plant together. HR signed employment contracts with all twenty-four people, and we filed the copies within the 10-day term. Tax numbers and bank accounts were done in the first week, and the temporary residence permit filings went ahead in groups of six.

That is where our part ended: training on the line and assigning people to sections is the plant's job. Every worker received a sheet in their own language with Arif's or Azamat's phone number and the HR contact, and we keep both groups' documents under migration support.

08 / Summary

Twenty-four people, two countries and not a single day of waiting

Calendar

Back from the start date, two tracks with a shared margin

Permits

Two filing waves four weeks apart

Amendment

Nurbek's new passport, decision in two working days

Tickets

For both groups after the Bangladesh visas

Arrival

Both groups in week eleven, line launch in week twelve

For WORKIN there are no unsolvable problems when a project spans several countries with routes of different length: we count the calendar back from the start date, launch the longer route first and bring both groups in during the same week. The WORKIN replacement guarantee runs for at least 6 months from the worker's first shift, provided the agreed working, pay and housing conditions are kept. How to collect addresses and documents from candidates in Bangladesh is covered in the scenario on village addresses in Bangladesh, and a visa-free route under a deadline in the scenario on the road season. The routes are described on the pages on visa-free entry, the D visa and the work permit, and the whole journey on How it works. More on the pages on workers for manufacturing, production workers from abroad, packers and workers from Bangladesh.

09 / FAQ

Questions and answers