Hire Workers from Pakistan for Saudi Arabia: 9 Essential Steps

If you need to hire workers from Pakistan for a project in Saudi Arabia, the route is well established and entirely regulated. It is also unforgiving of paperwork done in the wrong order. This guide sets out the nine steps to hire workers from Pakistan as they actually run in 2026, what you as the employer are responsible for, and where hiring goes wrong.

What this guide covers

• 1. Define the requirement precisely
• 2. Issue the demand letter and power of attorney
• 3. Attestation of your documents
• 4. The promoter applies for permission to recruit
• 5. Sourcing and shortlisting
• 6. Trade testing
• 7. Medical screening
• 8. Visa stamping and biometrics
• 9. Protector registration and deployment

Step 1 — Define the requirement precisely

Employers who hire workers from Pakistan successfully all start the same way: with a precise requirement. The single biggest cause of a failed mobilisation is a vague one. Before anything is issued, fix the trade, the number of workers, the salary, the contract length, the accommodation and transport arrangement, and who pays for the ticket and the residence permit.

Be specific about the trade. “Welder” covers a pipe welder working to 6G and a general fabrication welder, and they are not interchangeable on site. A precise specification is what makes the trade test in step 6 meaningful.

Step 2 — Issue the demand letter and power of attorney

To hire workers from Pakistan lawfully, two documents must originate with you as the employer:

• A demand letter stating the trades, quantities, wages and terms.
• A power of attorney authorising a named Pakistani Overseas Employment Promoter to act for you in recruitment and visa processing.

Both are issued on your company letterhead and must name the promoter you intend to work with. A promoter cannot begin without them.

Step 3 — Attestation of your documents

No attempt to hire workers from Pakistan proceeds past this point without attestation. The demand letter and power of attorney are attested by the Chamber of Commerce, and then by the Pakistani diplomatic mission or the relevant foreign ministry. A promoter cannot submit unattested documents, and this is where employers most often lose a fortnight.

Have both attested together. Splitting them across separate runs is the most common avoidable delay in the entire process.

Step 4 — The promoter applies for permission to recruit

Your promoter now applies to the Bureau of Emigration & Overseas Employment for permission to process your demand. This is not a formality; it is the point at which the state records who is recruiting for whom, and it is what separates a lawful hire from an informal one.

Two provisions of the Emigration Ordinance 1979 matter to you here. Section 12 requires anyone who engages, assists or recruits a person to emigrate to hold a licence. Section 9 goes further: no party other than the Overseas Employment Corporation may recruit a Pakistani citizen, advertise, or hold an interview or examination for the purpose of emigration, except with prior permission of the Director General or the Protector of Emigrants for the area.

The practical consequence is simple. If someone offers to run interviews for you in Pakistan without a licence, they are not cutting through bureaucracy — they are operating outside the law, and your project inherits that exposure.

Step 5 — Sourcing and shortlisting

The promoter now sources against your specification, screens documents, and presents a shortlist. This is the stage where most employers who hire workers from Pakistan form their view of an agency. Expect to see trade certificates, experience letters and passport details at this stage.

Insist on seeing the certificates before the trade test, not after. A candidate whose paperwork will not attest is a candidate who cannot travel, however well they perform on the test.

Step 6 — Trade testing

Practical testing is where a specification becomes a verified skill, and it is the step that most distinguishes a serious recruiter. For notified trades this is formalised, and certificates of technical skills are attested by the local technical board and the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission — not by the higher education body, which is a frequent and costly misrouting.

Attend or request video of the test if the trade is critical. It costs nothing and it is the cheapest quality control available to you.

Step 7 — Medical screening

Every worker you hire from Pakistan is examined at a centre accredited under the Gulf Health Council programme, booked through Wafid. The criteria are published, and the list of conditions that make an applicant unfit is explicit rather than discretionary.

Our guide to the GAMCA medical sets out what is examined and what fails. Sequence matters: a medical taken too early can expire before the visa issues, and you pay twice.

Step 8 — Visa stamping and biometrics

With attestations complete and medicals clear, the visa is stamped and biometric enrolment is completed. Document attestation for the worker’s own certificates runs in parallel — our document checklist covers which authority attests what, and in what order.

Step 9 — Protector registration and deployment

Before any worker may leave Pakistan, Section 15 of the Ordinance requires them to appear in person, together with the licensed promoter, before the Protector of Emigrants. The contract is examined and registered, and a stamp is placed in the passport.

This is not optional and it cannot be arranged around. Section 17 makes causing a recruited person to depart without appearing before the Protector punishable by up to five years for a first offence, and up to seven for a repeat. A promoter who offers to skip it is risking their licence and your mobilisation. See what the Protector of Emigrants stamp is for the detail.

How long it takes to hire workers from Pakistan

The time needed to hire workers from Pakistan varies by trade. Employer-side work — from attested demand letter to deployment — typically runs three to seven weeks where documents are in order. The worker-side chain, if a candidate is starting from nothing, runs longer. Timelines depend on visa category, trade testing and embassy throughput, so treat any promise of a fixed figure with suspicion.

Five mistakes that delay hiring

• Attesting the demand letter and the power of attorney weeks apart. Both documents travel through the same Chamber of Commerce and embassy queue, so sending them separately doubles the waiting time for no benefit.
• Writing a loose job specification. “Technician” cannot be trade tested; “shuttering carpenter, formwork, three years’ site experience” can, and the shortlist that comes back is the one you actually asked for.
• Sending trade certificates to the wrong authority. Technical skill certificates are attested by the provincial technical board and by NAVTTC, not by the higher education authority — a wrong submission is re-queued from the start.
• Running medicals before the visa route is confirmed. The medical has a fixed validity window; if the visa slips past it, the candidate is screened again and you pay twice.
• Letting an unlicensed intermediary sit between you and the promoter. Nothing they collect is recognised at the Protector stage, so the file stalls at the last step, after every earlier cost has already been incurred.

Frequently asked questions

Can we recruit directly, without a licensed promoter?

Not on a compliant route. Section 15 of the Emigration Ordinance 1979 requires the worker to appear in person before the Protector of Emigrants together with the licensed agent, and the contract is examined and registered at that appearance. There is no version of that step an employer can complete alone, which is why every lawful way to hire workers from Pakistan runs through a licensed Overseas Employment Promoter.

What must the employer issue before processing can start?

Three documents, attested in order: the demand letter, the power of attorney appointing the promoter, and the employment contract or guarantee. Each is attested by the local Chamber of Commerce and then by the Pakistan Embassy or the host country’s foreign ministry. The promoter cannot apply to the Bureau of Emigration for permission to process the foreign demand until that attestation chain is complete.

What happens if a candidate fails the medical?

No visa can be issued. The Gulf medical screening runs through approved centres and the unfit categories are published, so the outcome is not negotiable at the centre. A replacement candidate re-enters the chain at the trade test and repeats the medical; the demand letter and the processing permission already in place do not have to be redone.

Working with a licensed promoter

If you plan to hire workers from Pakistan, use a licensed promoter. Al Abbasi Enterprises has been licensed as an Overseas Employment Promoter since 1988, under licence OEP-0664-Rawalpindi, and has deployed more than 32,000 workers to Saudi Arabia. Our Saudi Arabia page sets out the sectors we recruit for, and the recruitment process page shows the full sequence.

Send your demand letter, or tell us the trades and numbers you need, and you can contact our Rawalpindi office directly. We reply within one business day, in English, Urdu or Arabic.