Saudi, UAE or Qatar Work Visa? Pakistani Workers' Guide and Agent Scams to Avoid

BEOE publishes live complaints against licensed agencies, by name and OEPL licence number, on its own website.

As of early September 2026, agencies with complaints under process included M/s Afaaq Brothers Overseas Employment (OEPL 2950/RWP), M/s B.M.R. International (OEPL 2517/LHR), M/s Eagle Syndicate (OEPL 2186/RWP), M/s Happy Home Worldwide Manpower Exporters (OEPL 2401/LHR), M/s Kash and Kamal Promoters (OEPL 2518/RWP), M/s Noori Overseas (OEPL 4932/RWP) and M/s Noorulain Power Move (OEPL 4547/ABT).

Every one of those holds a genuine licence. Being licensed is not the same as being safe. Check the complaint list before you hand over a single rupee.

Where Pakistanis Actually Go

The scale tells you where genuine demand sits. Deployment figures for 2025:

Saudi Arabia dominates by a wide margin. European destinations including Romania, Poland and Portugal are also growing rapidly, worth knowing if the Gulf isn't your only consideration.

Saudi Arabia: Largest Market, New Skill Tiers

The process, step by step: the employer submits a visa block through Saudi MOFA, visa numbers are allocated to the licensed agency, the worker completes the GAMCA medical, documents go to the Saudi Embassy or Consulate, the visa is stamped, Protector registration is completed, then the worker travels.

What changed in 2026: Saudi Arabia now classifies all employment visas under three skill tiers. Understanding which tier your role falls into matters, because it affects your terms.

Your visa leads to an Iqama, your residence permit and ID card, proving legal residency. It is tied to a specific employer under the Kafala sponsorship system.

UAE: More Flexibility, and a Rule That Protects You

The UAE offers more visa flexibility than Saudi Arabia, including self-sponsored options such as the Green Visa for independent professionals and freelance permits, alongside the standard employer-sponsored route most Pakistani workers use.

The 2026 rule worth memorising: MOHRE is cracking down on companies demanding reimbursement of visa costs from workers. In plain terms, the company pays the full visa cost. Medical, Emirates ID, labour card, all employer responsibility. A UAE company cannot legally ask you to pay for your own visa.

So if a Pakistani agent is demanding a large sum to "arrange" your UAE visa, that demand sits outside what the destination country's own law permits. Keep every receipt. If the job fails, you can file a complaint with BEOE.

Qatar: Smaller but Steady

At 120,000+ workers deployed in 2025, Qatar sits third among Gulf destinations for Pakistani workers, with continued demand across construction, healthcare, energy, logistics and technology driven by ongoing infrastructure projects.

Protector Registration: The Step That Stops You at the Airport

This catches people out badly, so understand it clearly.

Under the Emigration Ordinance 1979, every Pakistani leaving on a work visa must first be registered as an emigrant with BEOE. You can have the job offer, the stamped visa and the booked ticket, and still be offloaded by FIA immigration at the airport counter without it.

"Protection" means the Protectorate of Emigrants countersigns your Foreign Service Agreement, the contract between you and your foreign employer, and registers you as a legal emigrant. You then receive an Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC), which the FIA officer checks before you fly.

It applies whether you found the job yourself as a direct emigrant or went through a licensed Overseas Employment Promoter.

Why it matters beyond the airport: OPF membership gives your family access to education support and welfare schemes, the insurance protects your dependants, and a countersigned contract gives you legal standing if a foreign employer breaks its terms. Without it, you have no recourse.

BEOE guidance published as of July 2026 indicated a fee of around Rs 9,200, though government fees change frequently, so confirm the current figure directly. BEOE and National Bank of Pakistan also launched a QR-based cashless fee payment mechanism in July 2026 to digitise the process.

The Warning BEOE Issued This Month

This is current and serious. BEOE has issued an alert urging extreme caution with overseas job advertisements offering unusually high salaries, free travel, accommodation and easy visas.

The warning concerns organised human trafficking networks and forced online scam centres in Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos. Criminal groups target applicants with offers for roles such as computer operators, call centre agents, customer service representatives, data entry workers, digital marketers and IT professionals.

What happens on arrival: victims are transported to tightly controlled compounds, passports and mobile phones confiscated, and forced to participate in online fraud and other illegal activities.

If an offer sounds like office work in Southeast Asia with an unusually generous package, treat it as a trafficking risk, not an opportunity.

Destination Comparison

Verifying Before You Pay

1. Check the agency's OEPL licence on beoe.gov.pk, and separately check the live complaints list for that agency's name and licence number.
2. Verify the employer independently. Find their contact details through your own research, never using the number the agent gives you. Legitimate employers welcome confirmation. Scammers hope you skip this step.
3. Verify the visa number itself. Work visas carry official numbers issued by the destination government's labour ministry. Contact Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Human Resources or UAE's MOHRE to confirm the number is genuine and matches your details.
4. Complete Protector registration before travel, without exception.
5. Keep every receipt for every payment, since these are what BEOE needs if you later file a complaint.
6. Question any demand for large fees, particularly for UAE, where visa costs are legally the employer's responsibility.

Red Flags Checklist

• Agency appears on BEOE's complaints-under-process list
• Agent refuses to share their OEPL licence number
• You're asked to pay large sums for a UAE visa, which the employer must legally cover
• Offer promises unusually high salary with free travel and accommodation
• Job is an office role in Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar or Laos
• Agent discourages you from contacting the employer directly
• You're told Protector registration isn't necessary
• Documents look official but the visa number can't be verified with the labour ministry
• No receipt provided for payments

The Honest Summary

Saudi Arabia offers the largest volume of opportunity, UAE offers the most flexibility and the strongest legal protection on visa costs, and Qatar offers steady demand at smaller scale.

But the destination matters less than the process. Forged documents look convincing. Licensed agencies can still have complaints filed against them. And the single step that protects your legal standing abroad, Protector registration, is the one dishonest agents most want you to skip.

Three checks, the OEPL licence, the complaints list, and the visa number with the destination labour ministry, take under an hour and protect everything else.