Freelancers to get govt recognition at last !

A lot of remittance in the couple of years was brought by the country’s freelancers. About 800k people are engaged with this profession and Therefore Freelancers in Bangladesh are finally getting a state-endorsed electronic/virtual identity card.

The announcement of this initiative was made by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday in a meeting where the premiere virtually launched the website and Android mobile app of Freelancers.gov.bd.

This initiative has been jointly conducted by the ICT Division of the Information Ministry, Bangladesh Computer Council, iDEA Project, and Bangladesh Freelancers Development Society (BFDS).

According to ministry officials, the process of ID card and verification and furthering the initiative will be conducted by BFDS. The Information Ministry, BCC and iDEA Project will be providing policy-level support.

Through the newly inaugurated website freelancers.gov.bd, any valid freelancer will be able to register themselves in the national level database. In order to obtain the e-ID card, one needs to be a Bangladeshi citizen and prove they have credible work experience as a freelancer. They also need to pay TK 1,500 in order to obtain the card. Moreover, ID applicants will need to show proof of income in order to obtain the virtual ID card.

Currently, three kinds of freelancers can register with the platform: individuals, team owners and team members. For individuals and team members, the minimum income requirement in the prior 12 months is USD 1,000, whereas for team owners it is USD 10,000.

Anyone involved in spamming or other dubious activities won’t be able to obtain the ID card. According to the BFDS, the virtual ID card is just the first step of their plan.