The Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment (BEOE) has blacklisted 27 foreign recruiting firms during 2019. The bureau has barred them from operating in Pakistan due to non-compliance of the employment code agreed with the emigrants at the time of their recruitment.
Pakistani manpower had to face serious problems which included late payment of salaries, low wages, rights infringement, issuance of fake visas and others due to their exploitation at the hands of foreign employers.
A top official from BEOE said:
Zero-tolerance has been adopted against the fraudulent elements on the order of Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari who has been pressing upon Pakistani workforce rights protection abroad since holding the office.
The SAPM had directed that the rights of Pakistani workers should be protected abroad, he added.
He further stated that a crackdown was started against fraudulent elements that lured the intending emigrants abroad for lucrative job opportunities.
During 2019, there was a sharp increase in foreign companies that were blacklisted as compared to the previous years.
According to the official, twelve recruitment agencies from the United Arab Emirates, six from Azerbaijan, four from Iraq and three of Oman had been barred from recruiting Pakistanis after a thorough examination of complaints received from the affected people and Pakistan’s Community Welfare Attaches.
The blacklisted firms include:
- Shah International F/S LLC,
- Nazar Motors LLC
- Lardak LLC
- Ay Si Vi LLC
- Arkuita LLC
- Citizen Munawwar Latifi
- Shirka Ardh Al-Muheet
- Shirka Amwaj Ul-Bahar
- Shirka Seeufue Ul-Badar
- Catalyst Contract Trading Company Fourth Union Reconstruction LLC
- Dar Ul Riyan International LLC.
The official said the bureau had also canceled operational licenses of 23 Overseas Employment Promoters (OEPs) and suspended 38 others during the same period for various reasons. Most of the licenses of OEPs were suspended for not responding to the complaints, lodged against them by the victims while others were canceled on non-payment of the laborers’ dues.
According to the list shared by the Bureau, the operations of Zafran Recruiting Agency, Social Age Services, Sindhi Manpower, Sheikhu International, Sakhi Enterprises and others had been suspended.
Similarly, the registration of various OEPs including Al-Wasio International, Ulfat Enterprises, Faith International, Al-Sada Overseas Employment, Dar-Ul-Khaleej Manpower, Latif & Co and others had been canceled.
