If you remember only one line from this guide, remember this: a Saudi work visa is arranged by the employer who hires you — it is never a product you buy from an agent. Almost every visa scam in Pakistan begins with someone offering to sell a visa. The real process is a chain of official steps between the Saudi employer, licensed Pakistani recruiters and two governments, and every step can be checked.
Here is the complete process, in order, with the honest warnings that protect your money.
Step 1: A real job offer comes first
Everything starts with a genuine job. A Saudi company decides to hire you and raises an official demand. If a recruiter in Pakistan is involved, that recruiter must be an Overseas Employment Promoter (OEP) licensed by the Bureau of Emigration & Overseas Employment (BEOE) — and you can check the licence yourself on the Bureau's website, beoe.gov.pk, before you pay anyone a single rupee. No licence, no dealing. The demand is registered with the Bureau, which is what makes your later Protector registration possible.
Step 2: The employer issues the visa
The Saudi employer obtains the work visa approval from the Saudi authorities and authorises the recruitment office to process your case. Your application moves through Saudi Arabia's electronic visa system (Enjaz) and the visa is stamped into your passport. Under Saudi law, the visa fee, the work permit fee and later the iqama fee are the employer's costs, not yours — a point recruitment guides repeat because so many candidates are wrongly charged for them. You should receive your stamped passport back; never let anyone hold it indefinitely.
Step 3: Documents and attestation
You will need a valid passport, your CNIC, photographs and, depending on the job, your education and experience documents. For professional and engineering roles, degrees normally go through an attestation chain: HEC verification, then attestation by Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then the Saudi cultural mission and embassy. Trade certificates may be needed for skilled trades. Attestation is done at official counters against official receipts — keep a photocopy and a phone photo of every document you hand over, and of every receipt you are given.
Step 4: The Wafid (GAMCA) medical
Every Saudi work visa needs a medical fitness report from a centre approved by the Gulf Health Council. In Pakistan this is still widely called the GAMCA medical, but booking is now done only through Wafid, at wafid.com. You book and pay the small booking fee online, and the system assigns you an approved medical centre — you cannot choose your own doctor, and a report from a private clinic will be rejected. The examination screens for infectious diseases and general fitness for work. The booking fee and the clinic's charges are set through the Wafid system and do change, so confirm the current amounts on wafid.com itself before paying. And one warning that cannot be repeated enough: never pay anyone who promises to "fix" or "manage" a medical result — that is fraud, and it ends with bans, not visas.
Step 5: Skill test and biometrics, where your trade requires them
Saudi Arabia's Skill Verification Program (Takamol SVP) requires workers in listed trades to pass a practical skill test and hold the certificate; in Pakistan it is coordinated through NAVTTC. Not every profession is on the list, so this step applies only if your trade is covered. You will also give your fingerprints and photograph at an authorised Saudi visa service centre in Pakistan (Tasheer centres, formerly known as Etimad) — biometrics are required before the visa stamping is completed. Both steps are official appointments: go yourself, and keep the slips.
Step 6: The Protector of Emigrants stamp
Before any Pakistani can legally depart on an employment visa, the job must be registered with the Protector of Emigrants at the Bureau of Emigration & Overseas Employment. Your contract and visa are registered, a Protector stamp (sticker) is placed in your passport, and the registration includes emigrant life insurance and membership of the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) welfare scheme. Airport staff check for this stamp — without it, you cannot board on a work visa.
There is an official government fee for Protector registration. To give you an idea of scale, the guide Saudi Work Visa from Pakistan (Saudi Life Guide) reports PKR 9,200 for direct employment registration and PKR 22,200 when the case is routed through an OEP, including the promoter's service charge — but fees are revised by the government, so treat any figure, including these, as a guide only and confirm the current amount on beoe.gov.pk before you pay. Always pay against an official receipt.
Step 7: Travel — then iqama after arrival
With the stamped passport and Protector registration in hand, you can fly. On arrival, your employer processes your iqama — the residence permit that is your legal identity in Saudi Arabia. Recruitment guides note the iqama must be issued within the entry validity of your work visa (the visa is typically valid for entry within 90 days), and your employer handles this paperwork. Keep your passport, a copy of your contract and your iqama safe; photograph them and keep backups with family at home.
Who pays for what — the honest summary
| Item | Who pays | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Work visa, work permit and iqama fees | Employer | Saudi law places these on the employer |
| Wafid medical | You | Book only on wafid.com; confirm the current fee there |
| Document attestation | Usually you | Official counters only, always against a receipt |
| Protector of Emigrants registration | You | Government fee — confirm the current figure on beoe.gov.pk |
The scams that catch Pakistani workers
- "Pay me and I will give you a visa." A work visa belongs to a specific employer's hiring demand. A loose visa sold in an office is either fake, or tied to a sponsor you have never met for a job that does not exist. People who travel on these arrangements end up stranded, working illegally, or deported.
- The "free visa" / visit visa trap. A visit, tourist or Umrah visa is not a work visa. You cannot get a Protector stamp for it, you cannot legally work on it, and you get no iqama and no labour-law protection. Anyone who tells you "go on a visit visa and we will fix the job there" is sending you into illegality.
- Fake offers on WhatsApp. A real offer names a real company and arrives with paperwork you can verify. An offer that exists only as a forwarded message with a personal mobile number is not an offer.
- Cash without receipts. Every genuine step in this process — medical, attestation, Protector — produces an official receipt or an online record you can check yourself. Cash handed over with no paper is money gone.
- "No medical needed" or "medical managed". The Wafid medical is compulsory and system-booked. Shortcuts here are fraud, full stop.
⚠️ Khaleej Rozgar never charges candidates, and neither does any real employer. The visa is the employer's process. If money is demanded from you for "the visa", stop — that single fact tells you the offer is not genuine.
Frequently asked questions
Can I buy a Saudi work visa from an agent in Pakistan? No. A work visa is issued against a specific employer's approved demand. What an agent can legitimately do — if they are a BEOE-licensed Overseas Employment Promoter — is process your case against a real demand. A visa offered for sale on its own is a scam or an illegal arrangement.
Who pays for the visa and the iqama? The employer. Saudi law makes the visa, work permit and iqama fees the employer's responsibility. Your own official costs are normally limited to your Wafid medical, any document attestation, and the Protector registration fee — each paid at official counters or portals, always against a receipt. Confirm current amounts on wafid.com and beoe.gov.pk, because official fees change.
What is the Protector stamp, and is it compulsory? Yes, for employment visas it is compulsory. It is the Bureau of Emigration's registration of your job in your passport, and it includes life insurance cover and OPF welfare membership. Without it you cannot legally leave Pakistan for work — and note that it is never issued for visit visas, which is one more proof that a visit visa is not a route to a job.
How long does the whole process take? Licensed recruiters commonly describe the full chain — demand, medical, attestation, stamping and Protector registration — as taking several weeks, often quoted around four to eight weeks, depending on how fast the medical and attestation steps move. Do not resign from your current job or pay for anything non-refundable until your stamped passport and Protector registration are actually in your hand.
Can I work in Saudi Arabia on a visit visa? No. Working on a visit, tourist or Umrah visa is illegal. You would have no iqama, no contract protection and no legal right to salary — and you risk arrest and deportation. The only safe route is a real job offer and an employer-issued work visa, exactly as described above.
Start with a real job offer
The visa process is not the hard part — finding a genuine offer is. Every job on Khaleej Rozgar carries the employer's own apply button, and applying is always free: browse jobs in Riyadh, engineering jobs in Saudi Arabia and the wider board, or read our other guides before you apply. Get a real offer first — the official process above then protects you at every step. (Considering Qatar instead? Qatar has its own visa system, but the same two rules apply there: the employer arranges the work visa, and you never pay for it — see Qatar jobs to start.)