The short answer
To start a visa agency in Bangladesh, get a lawyer's opinion on MoCAT travel agency registration first, set up the business basics, pick one or two routes you can learn deeply, hire or train a careful caseworker, and write down your fee and file process before the first client walks in. Clean files are the reputation you build on.
In Bangla
বাংলাদেশে ভিসা এজেন্সি শুরু করতে আগে MoCAT-এর ট্রাভেল এজেন্সি নিবন্ধন নিয়ে একজন আইনজীবীর মত নিন, ব্যবসার মৌলিক কাগজ ঠিক করুন, এক বা দুটি রুট ভালোভাবে শিখুন, একজন যত্নশীল কেসওয়ার্কার নিন, আর প্রথম ক্লায়েন্ট আসার আগেই ফি ও ফাইলের নিয়ম লিখে ফেলুন। সৎ ও পরিষ্কার ফাইলই এজেন্সির আসল সুনাম।
Key takeaways
- MoCAT registers travel agencies, with a fee reported at ৳50,000 and a ৳10 lakh solvency certificate; whether visa-only work needs it is unclear, so ask a lawyer.
- Start with one or two routes you can learn in depth rather than every country on a banner.
- Published Dhaka agency prices for a Western visitor file mostly sit between ৳4,500 and 8,000, with some reaching ৳20,000, before government fees.
- A written file process and a second-person review matter more in year one than an office in Gulshan.
- The fastest way to lose an agency's name is a dummy ticket or an arranged statement in one client's file.
If you are working out how to start a visa agency in Bangladesh, you probably already know the work: you have filed for family, friends or a previous employer, and people keep asking you to do theirs. Turning that into a business means registration questions, a fee people accept, a process that does not depend on you remembering everything, and a reputation for clean files.
This guide covers each of those in order. Where the rules are unclear, it says so and tells you to get a lawyer's opinion, because guessing about licensing is a poor way to start.
Do you need a licence to run a visa agency in Bangladesh?
Possibly, and you should get a lawyer's written opinion before you charge anyone. The Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism (MoCAT) registers travel agencies, and the registration fee has been reported at ৳50,000 with a solvency certificate of ৳10 lakh (MoCAT laws page, The Business Standard).
What is not clear is whether an agency that only prepares visa files, without selling air tickets or tours, falls under that registration. Different people in the trade will give you different answers. Do not rely on any of them, this article included: take the question, your planned services and your company papers to a lawyer, and register if the lawyer is unsure.
Check the destination side as well. Some missions accept applications only from agents they have authorised, and the joint statement thirteen countries issued in Dhaka in April 2026 warned applicants against unlicensed agents (Prothom Alo). Know each route's rules before you advertise it.
Which visa routes should a new agency start with?
Start with one or two routes you can learn in real depth, usually one easy visa that brings volume and one hard visitor visa that pays properly. Easy visas (Thailand, Malaysia, India) are quick to file but cheap and crowded. Hard routes such as the UK and Schengen pay more per file, and refuse more than half of Bangladeshi applicants.
That refusal rate is the business risk. Schengen consulates in Bangladesh turned down 54.5% of the applications they received in 2025 (European Commission). A new agency that files hard routes carelessly will collect refusals faster than referrals, so learn one hard route properly before adding the next. The UK visitor route is a good teacher: its rules are published in full and its refusal letters say why.
What does it cost to set up?
The costs fall into five groups. Only the registration figures below come from a published source; get quotes for the rest in your own area, because Paltan and Banani are different markets.
| Cost | What drives it | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Registration | MoCAT travel agency registration, if your lawyer says it applies | Reported at ৳50,000 plus a ৳10 lakh solvency certificate |
| Business basics | Trade licence, tax registration, a business bank account | Ask your lawyer or accountant which apply to your set-up |
| Office | Location, size, a desk where clients can sit with papers | Clients trust a real address; it need not be large |
| People | One careful caseworker, then a second for reviews | Experience on your chosen routes matters more than numbers |
| Tools | Phone number, WhatsApp, scanner, file software | Per-file software keeps costs in line with volume |
A launch sequence that holds up
Work through these in order. Skipping the boring early steps is how agencies end up fixing problems with clients already waiting.
- 1
Decide your services and routes
Write one page: which visas you will file, which you will not, who your clients are, and whether you will also sell tickets or tours.
- 2
Get the legal opinion
Take that page to a lawyer. Ask about MoCAT registration, your trade licence category and anything specific to your routes, and register if the lawyer is unsure.
- 3
Set up the business basics
Trade licence, tax registration and a bank account in the business's name, so client payments and receipts are clean from the first file.
- 4
Hire or train the caseworker
One person who reads papers carefully and knows your first hard route. Pair them with a second reviewer, even part-time, for every file before submission.
- 5
Write the file process
Checklists per route, how papers are collected, who checks what, how the cover letter is drafted and approved, and how decisions are recorded.
- 6
Set the fee and the terms
Your service fee, what it covers, how government and visa centre fees are shown separately, and what happens if the visa is refused, all in writing.
- 7
Find the first clients
Past clients, referrals, a Facebook page with useful answers, and perhaps a few sub-agents you trust. Grow only as fast as your review process can keep up.
How much should a new agency charge?
Published price pages from Dhaka agencies put the service fee for a Western visitor file at ৳4,500 to 8,000 in most cases, rising to ৳20,000 for complex files, with the government fee paid separately (ShareTrip, goFLY). Price within that range by the work involved: a family file with a sponsor takes far longer than a salaried applicant with a clean travel history.
Show the government fee and any visa centre charges separately from your own fee, and link the official page for each. The UK Standard Visitor visa for six months is £135, for example; check the official page before paying, because fees change. Take payments to the business account or a business bKash number, give a receipt every time, and record any amount you pay on the client's behalf.
Build the file process before the files pile up
In your first months you can hold every file in your head. Build the process anyway, because the habits you set at ten files a month are the ones you will have at a hundred. Every file should have one checklist, one place where papers live, one person responsible and a second person who reviews it before submission.
Decide early how papers arrive. If clients send them on WhatsApp, use one agency number and move each paper into the file the day it comes; our guide to WhatsApp intake for visa agencies sets out the routine. Record every decision and the reasons from every refusal letter, so you can see what to fix; how to reduce visa refusals shows how to use that record.
Stay clean: the reputation you cannot buy back
Clients will ask you for shortcuts: a dummy ticket, a statement "arranged" by someone's cousin at a bank, a leave letter from an office they no longer work at. Say no every time, in writing if needed. Under the UK's suitability rules, deception means refusal and a ten-year ban, and an agency associated with forged papers loses the referrals it depends on.
Turning down a file that cannot be made honest feels expensive in your first year. It is the cheapest marketing you will ever do.
Choosing software from day one
A new agency does not need much software, but it needs the right kind: something that keeps each client's papers together, checks them against each other and assembles the upload pack the way the visa centre's portal wants it. Per-file pricing suits a new agency because quiet months cost little. Our buyer's guide to agency software sets out what to look for, and Visolv's rates are on the pricing section.
Start small, learn one hard route properly, write everything down and keep every file honest. Agencies built that way grow slower in the first year and much faster after it.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need MoCAT registration to process visas in Bangladesh?
It depends on what you do, and you should get a lawyer's written opinion. MoCAT registers travel agencies, but whether an agency that only prepares visa files, without selling tickets or tours, must register is not clearly settled. If the lawyer is unsure, registering is the safer course. Do not rely on what other agency owners did for their own businesses.
How much does it cost to register a travel agency in Bangladesh?
The registration fee has been reported at ৳50,000, with a solvency certificate of ৳10 lakh, under MoCAT's travel agency rules. Check the current figures on MoCAT's own pages and with your lawyer before you apply, because rules and fees change. Registration is only one cost: the office, staff, tools and business licences come on top.
How much do visa agencies charge in Dhaka?
For a Western visitor visa file, Dhaka agencies typically charge between ৳4,500 and ৳8,000 as a service fee, and some charge up to ৳20,000 for complex files, according to published agency price pages. Government fees and visa centre charges are paid on top. Show each fee separately to the client, and say in writing what your own fee covers.
Which visas should a new agency start with?
Pick one easy visa for steady volume, such as a Thailand, Malaysia or India visa, and one hard visitor route, such as the UK, that you will learn in depth. Hard routes pay more but refuse more than half of Bangladeshi applicants, so a careless start fills your record with refusals. Add a second hard route only once the first runs smoothly.
Should a new visa agency join ATAB?
ATAB, the Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh, is the main trade body, and its website lists more than 4,500 members. Membership is a business decision rather than a filing requirement for most visa routes. Ask ATAB directly about its membership conditions and what it offers, and weigh that against your services and the routes you plan to file.
What should a new visa agency never do?
Never sell or use dummy tickets, never accept bank papers someone has arranged, never write a letter for an employer, never promise a decision and never hide a client's earlier refusal. Each of these can bring the client a refusal for deception and a long ban, and each can end the referrals a young agency lives on.
The Visolv team
Editorial team, Easital Technologies (Dhaka)
Visolv is software for visa agencies, made in Dhaka by Easital Technologies: an AI caseworker that reads and checks every paper in a client's file, writes the drafts and builds the upload pack under the agency's own brand. We write about what we see in real visa files from Bangladesh.
