There are no domestic laws and policies that accord refugees who are lawfully in the country the right to move freely within the country. The Government of Bangladesh enforces a strict encampment policy under which all Rohingya refugees must be registered with the Government (jointly with UNHCR) and must reside in designated camps (in Cox’s Bazar District and on Bhasan Char Island in Noakhali District). 

The legal status of Rohingya refugees “lawfully in the country” is a complex issue in Bangladesh. Rohingya refugees who arrived in the 1990s were registered jointly by the Government of Bangladesh and UNHCR, and the joint documents issued to them identifies them as refugees. However, this did not imply that the Government recognize their legal status as refugees. 

Rohingyas refugees who arrived in Bangladesh in subsequent influxes were not registered by the Government up until the latest influx of August 2017.  Those previously unregistered and those who arrived in the influx of August 2017 were then registered in a joint registration exercise under the provisions of a 2018 UNHCR-Government of Bangladesh Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the Exchange of Personal Data of Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals/Refugees. This group is identified by the Government as Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals (FDMN) while UNHCR identifies them as refugees.  The legal status of these documented refugees who arrived after the 1990s remains ambiguous.

In August 2017, the Government issued several decisions regarding Rohingyas living in Bangladesh. For example, through the September 2017 Prime Minister’s Office Directives on the “rehabilitation of the displaced people from Myanmar and coordination of relief work”, the Government has imposed limitations on Rohingya refugees’ movement by indicating that the Office of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) will co-ordinate the transfer of the displaced people to the nearby built shelters. They will also monitor and supervise so that the shelter-seekers may not go outside the camp. 

For each camp, a Camp-in-Charge (CiC) is appointed by the Government of Bangladesh. CiCs report to the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC). CiCs oversee the work of humanitarian actors, coordinate and liaise with the government and security agencies. In practice, Rohingya refugees are required to obtain an authorization from the CiC to move outside the perimeter of the camp where they are registered. The authorization is issued in the form of a "Camp Exit Pass". 

In the absence of a standard procedure applicable in all camps for the issuance of such authorizations, CICs have discretionary power to grant authorization for refugees’ movements outside of the camp, for instance, to access health services or to file a complaint at a police station outside the camp. Law enforcement presence at checkpoints around the camps ensures that refugees do not travel without the CiC’s authorization. The risk of arrest and conviction under the Foreigners Act provides further deterrence.