To have an NGO or INGO registered in Bangladesh, or an organization ready to operate or receive foreign funding for the purpose of conducting or carrying out any voluntary activity, such entity must be registered with the relevant authorities and meet the Government’s specifications.
An application must be made with the relevant authorities in order to register an International Non-Governmental Organization (INGO) or a locally based Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). The competent authorities in Bangladesh in this respect will be the NGO Affairs Bureau (NGOAB) (which is under the Ministry of Social Welfare of Bangladesh) and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Following submission of the application to the NGOAB, it will be transferred to the Ministries of Social Welfare and Home Affairs for review and inspection of the supplied papers. Following receipt of the papers, the respective Ministries should designate the Special Branch of Police and National Security Intelligence to perform a security check on the applicant and, if satisfied with their inquiries, provide a clearance addressing the Ministry of Home Affairs. Once the NGOAB has been given approval, it will proceed with its review and final verification of the papers.
The Ministry shall consider the following factors when considering the application: the entity that applied for registration was involved in anti-state/anti-social activities or any other criminal activity, the introduction of members of the applicant organization, mutual relationship and social stature, previous experiences of the entity in relation to social welfare activities, and details whether an entity which applied has its own office.
The appropriate authorities must determine whether to approve or not to approve the application based on the above-mentioned criterion. However, if the application is granted, the applicant will be issued a letter of registration to operate in Bangladesh. It is officially claimed that the full registration procedure typically takes 90 working days to complete. Although, in practice, the full operation might take up to 6 months to complete.