Demand Letter for Overseas Recruitment: 7 Rules

A demand letter is the document that starts everything. It is the written instruction from a foreign employer to a licensed Pakistani recruiter setting out which workers are wanted, on what terms, and under whose authority. When it is drafted properly the file moves. When it is not, it stops at the Protector of Emigrants’ desk — after the attestation has already been paid for, and usually several weeks later.

This guide sets out seven rules for writing a demand letter that survives scrutiny, and explains exactly what the Protector of Emigrants is required to check when it lands.

What this guide covers

• 1. One occupation per line
• 2. State the headcount against each occupation
• 3. Put wages and allowances in figures
• 4. State the contract term and what happens at the end
• 5. Say who pays for what
• 6. Issue the power of attorney with the demand letter
• 7. Attest in the right order, in one pass

Rule 1 — One occupation per line

Every line of the demand letter should name a single occupation, written the way a testing body would write it. “Technician” is not an occupation; “building electrician” is. “Construction staff” is not an occupation; “shuttering carpenter” and “steel fixer” are two.

This matters legally, not just editorially. Rule 20(1) of the Emigration Rules 1979 obliges the promoter to recruit “persons of all categories according to the qualifications laid down in the demand”. A category that cannot be tested cannot be demonstrably met, and the file becomes arguable at the worst possible moment.

Rule 2 — State the headcount against each occupation

Write the number next to the trade, not in a paragraph at the end. A demand letter that asks for “approximately 40 workers across various trades” forces the promoter to guess, and every guess is a candidate you did not ask for.

If the requirement is phased, say so in the same table: twelve masons in the first mobilisation, eighteen in the second. A phased demand letter is entirely normal and processes perfectly well; an ambiguous one does not.

Rule 3 — Put wages and allowances in figures

Basic salary, food, accommodation, transport, overtime basis and any fixed allowance each need a figure or an explicit statement that the employer provides the item in kind. “As per company policy” is the single most common cause of an avoidable query.

Under Rule 19, the Protector scrutinises the demand and grants permission only when satisfied that the wages and terms offered are reasonable. A reviewer cannot form that view on a phrase. They can form it instantly on a number.

Rule 4 — State the contract term and what happens at the end

Give the duration, the probation period if there is one, the renewal position, and the leave and air-passage entitlement. These are the clauses a worker is later asked about in their own language at the Protector stage, so vagueness here reappears as a delay there.

Rule 5 — Say who pays for what

Set out plainly which costs the employer bears: visa, air passage, medical, insurance, accommodation, and the recruitment service itself. Silence is not neutral. An unallocated cost becomes a dispute, and a dispute at the registration stage holds up the whole batch, not just one file.

Rule 6 — Issue the power of attorney with the demand letter

The power of attorney names the licensed promoter you are authorising to act. Rule 19 makes the promoter’s possession of that power of attorney one of the things the Protector must be satisfied about before granting permission to process the demand.

Issue it in the same envelope as the demand letter. Both documents travel through the same Chamber of Commerce and embassy queue, so sending them weeks apart doubles the waiting time and achieves nothing.

Rule 7 — Attest in the right order, in one pass

The demand letter, the power of attorney and the employment contract or guarantee are attested by the local Chamber of Commerce first and then by the Pakistan Embassy or the host country’s foreign ministry. Send all three together, in that order, once. Our documents checklist shows which body signs which paper.

What the Protector of Emigrants checks

Two rules do the real work. Rule 19 of the Emigration Rules 1979 requires that any demand from a foreign private-sector employer be submitted by the promoter to the Protector of Emigrants for scrutiny, and permission follows only if the Protector is satisfied about the power of attorney and about the reasonableness of the wages and terms.

Rule 21(1) then governs registration of the individual agreements. Before registering, the Protector must be satisfied that each person fulfils the qualifications and experience specified in the demand, that the promoter has explained the agreement to them in their own language, and that they understand the terms and have volunteered freely.

Read those two together and the drafting standard becomes obvious: your demand letter is the yardstick a government officer will hold every candidate against, months after you wrote it. Anything you leave vague, they cannot verify. The Protector of Emigrants stamp is where imprecision surfaces.

What happens after the demand letter is accepted

Selection, trade testing and medical screening run against the specification. Foreign service agreements are then prepared in quadruplicate for each person and signed by the parties under Rule 20, registered by the Protector under Rule 21 with a certificate of registration issued for each emigrant, and a stamped copy goes to the worker and to the employer under Rule 23.

The clock then starts: Rule 15(5) requires the promoter to arrange passage within thirty-five days of registration, and Rule 16(2) makes the promoter responsible for the journey from the place of recruitment to the place of employment abroad. The full sequence is set out in our guide to hiring workers from Pakistan.

Demand letter checklist

• Employer’s full registered name, commercial registration number and address.
• One line per occupation, in testable language, with the headcount against each.
• Basic salary and each allowance in figures, or stated as provided in kind.
• Contract duration, probation, renewal, leave and air passage.
• Cost allocation for visa, passage, medical, insurance and accommodation.
• Name of the licensed promoter, matching the power of attorney exactly.
• Signature, company stamp and date — and the same date on all three documents.

Frequently asked questions

Does the demand letter have to be on company letterhead?

Yes. It is attested as a corporate instrument by the Chamber of Commerce, which means it has to carry the employer’s registered identity, stamp and an authorised signature. A letter that cannot be attested cannot be processed, whatever it says.

Can one demand letter cover more than one trade?

It can, and most do. What it cannot do is blur them. List each occupation on its own line with its own headcount, wage and requirement; that keeps a single document workable at the trade test and again at registration.

What if the requirement changes after attestation?

Tell the promoter before selection begins. A material change — a different occupation, a different wage — generally needs a fresh demand letter through the same attestation chain, because the specification on file is the one the Protector will test candidates against under Rule 21(1).

Working with a licensed promoter

Al Abbasi Enterprises has been licensed as an Overseas Employment Promoter since 1988 under licence OEP-0664-Rawalpindi. We draft and review demand letters with employers before attestation, which is far cheaper than correcting one afterwards. The statutory framework quoted above is published by the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment.

See the sectors we recruit for on our Saudi Arabia page, the full sequence on our process page, or contact our Rawalpindi office with a draft. We reply within one working day, in English, Arabic or Urdu.