The government has initiated measures to send 18,000 workers, who were unable to travel to Malaysia within the stipulated time despite holding visas, by March and April, said expatriate welfare and overseas employment secretary Ruhul Amin on Wednesday.

“If the Malaysian government says they will take workers within 15 days, we will also send them within 15 days. Now everything depends on Malaysia,” he said while talking to the reporters at the secretariat.

Asked about the ‘long process’, he said, "We hope that the way the talk is going on, it will not take too long. We hope to be able to fix everything in February. We can start sending workers in March-April.”

The current government recently formed a committee and two meetings have taken place, yielding some progress, he said.