How to Verify a Recruiter's Licence — Pakistan (BE&OE) and India (eMigrate)
To verify a recruiter in Pakistan, you need two numbers: the agency's OEP licence number and the BE&OE permission number for the specific job. Type both into the free search on beoe.gov.pk — the agency name must match, the licence status must show Valid, and the permission must name the same agency, country and trade. If any one of these fails, do not pay anything.
Every year, thousands of Pakistanis lose money to fake agents who promise Gulf jobs that do not exist. Families sell plots and take loans, then hand everything to a man who was never licensed to send anyone anywhere. The good news: Pakistan has a free, official system to check any recruiter in about two minutes, on your own phone. Never skip this check. It costs nothing, and it can save your family's savings.
Every job on InGulfJobs prints both numbers on its own page, so you can practise on a real listing first. Pick any job under today's verified jobs in Saudi Arabia and run the check on it while you read.
What are the two numbers every genuine job must have?
Every genuine Gulf job stands on two numbers. If an agent shows you both, and both check out, you are dealing with the legal system. If even one is missing, you are not.
1. The OEP licence number. Every legal recruitment agency in Pakistan — an Overseas Employment Promoter, or OEP — is licensed by the Bureau of Emigration & Overseas Employment (BE&OE). The licence looks like 3555/RWP or 4999/KAR: a number, a slash, then a short city code for the office that issued it. It is printed on the agency's advertisements, its office board and its receipts — the same number in all three places. An agent who cannot show this number is not legal. A big shiny office is not a licence.
2. The BE&OE permission number. A licence alone is not enough. Every single foreign job demand must also be approved by BE&OE before the agency may advertise it or charge a rupee against it. That approval carries a 7-digit permission number, for example 4751846. It belongs to one specific demand: one employer, one country, one trade. So a real licence with a fake or missing permission number is still a danger sign — that particular job was never approved, and unapproved jobs are exactly where people lose their money.
Hold the difference clearly in your mind, because most fraud lives in the gap between the two. The licence says: this business is allowed to recruit. The permission says: this particular job, for this particular employer, has been seen and approved by BE&OE. A licensed agency can still cheat you with an unapproved job on the side, and an honest-looking job advertisement means nothing until its permission number checks out.
How do I check a recruiter's licence on beoe.gov.pk?
You need a phone or a computer and the two numbers from the advertisement. That is all. Do the whole thing yourself, from the start, on your own device — never on a phone the agent hands you, already open on a page he chose.
- Open beoe.gov.pk, the official website of the Bureau of Emigration & Overseas Employment. Type the address yourself rather than following a link the agent sends you — a fake page can be dressed up to look official.
- Use the licence / OEP search and type the number exactly as printed, city code included. One wrong digit gives you a stranger's record, or no record at all.
- Check three things in the result: the agency name matches the name you were given, the licence status shows Valid, and the office address matches the office you visited or were told about.
- Now check the job itself: the permission number should belong to that same agency, for the same country and trade you are applying for. A permission for drivers going to Qatar does not cover a cook's job in Saudi Arabia.
- Screenshot both results and keep them with your papers.
- If anything does not match — name, city, status, trade — walk away. Do not argue, and do not pay a "small booking amount" to hold your seat. Just walk away.
Read the result page slowly, line by line. The name is the first line people skip, and it matters: agencies with similar names exist in the same city, and a fake agent survives on that confusion. The status line matters just as much. Valid is the only word that should let you move forward. A licence can also show as expired, which means its time ran out and was not renewed, or suspended, which means BE&OE itself stopped that agency from working. Either way, the answer for you is the same: this agency cannot legally send you anywhere right now, whatever story comes with it.
The address line is your third lock. If the record shows an office in Rawalpindi but you are sitting in a shop two districts away with a different name on the board, you are probably not dealing with the licensed agency at all — you are dealing with a sub-agent, or with nobody. The licensed office is the one named in the record.
What does a passing check look like?
Say a newspaper advertisement needs steel fixers for Saudi Arabia, and names an agency with licence 3555/RWP and permission number 4751846 printed under the job details. Do this before spending a rupee on bus fare to their office.
You search 3555/RWP on beoe.gov.pk. The result shows the agency's registered name, its Rawalpindi office address, and the word Valid beside the status. Name and address match the advertisement, so the agency itself is legal. Then the permission number: it sits with the same agency, for Saudi Arabia, for the trade named in the ad. Both pass.
Only now does it make sense to visit the office. Notice what never happened: you never asked the agent whether he is genuine — you asked the government's own record, and a record cannot sweet-talk you.
What does a failing check look like?
Now take the same advertisement and change one detail. The licence checks out — real agency, valid status, matching address. But when you look at the permission number, it belongs to a different demand: drivers, for Qatar, approved months ago for another employer. The job being sold to you is for a cook, in Saudi Arabia.
This is the failure that catches careful people, because half the check genuinely passed. The agent will usually have a story ready: the new permission is "in process", the Qatar paper is "just a formality", the Saudi approval "will be attached to your file later". None of that changes the record. On the day you pay, the job you are buying has no approval behind it, and if the company or the demand turns out to be invented, there is no official paper trail with your name anywhere near it. Thank the agent for his time and leave. A real demand will still be there when its real permission number exists — and if it is not, it was never a real demand.
Where do I find the numbers before checking them?
In a newspaper advertisement, look at the block of small print under the job details. Licensed agencies print the licence number and the permission number there, because the law expects those numbers to travel with the ad. On a job page like the ones on this site, both numbers sit on the listing itself. In an office, the licence belongs on the board, where you can read it without asking.
The numbers go missing in the places where fraud prefers to work: a voice note forwarded on WhatsApp, a Facebook post with a phone number and big salary figures, a photocopied cutting with the bottom strip torn away. Treat a missing number as information, not as an oversight. Ask for both numbers, in writing, in a message you can keep. A genuine agency sends them without discussion, because it sends them to everybody. An operator who says the numbers are "secret", or that checking is only for people who have paid, has told you everything the check would have.
One more habit worth building: when an agent shows you a licence — framed, laminated, or photographed on his phone — still type the number into beoe.gov.pk yourself. Paper can be borrowed. A printed certificate can belong to a partner, a previous employer, or a business that closed years ago. The number is either alive in the official record, under that agency's name, or it is decoration.
Mistakes that let fake agents through
- Checking only the licence. Plenty of fraud runs through genuinely licensed offices quietly selling unapproved demands on the side. The permission number is the check that protects your specific job.
- Accepting a photocopy. A framed licence on the wall, or a photocopy in a file, can belong to a different agency or be years out of date. Run the number yourself, every time.
- Ignoring the city code. 3555/RWP and a similar-looking number from another city are two different licences. Type the whole thing, slash and code included.
- Paying a sub-agent who waves someone else's licence. A man in your town collecting money "for" a licensed agency in Lahore is not the licensed agency. Your agreement and receipt must carry the licensed agency's own name and number.
- Checking a number the agent read out to you on the phone. Voices are easy to mishear, and a changed digit is a convenient accident. Check the number as printed in the advertisement or written in a message, never from memory and never from dictation.
- Checking once, months before paying. A licence that was valid in the spring can be suspended by winter. Run the check again on the day you are actually going to hand over money or documents.
What should I do if the check fails?
Sometimes the answer on the website is simply not what the agent promised: the licence shows expired or suspended, the registered name is different, or the permission number belongs to another demand altogether. Treat any of these as a full stop, not a negotiation.
If you have not paid yet, the path is short. Pay nothing, hand over no original documents, and walk away — politely, without a scene, and without announcing that you are going to report anyone. Then run the same check on the next agency instead. There are many licensed promoters and many approved demands; the honest ones do not need your urgency.
If you have already paid, work in this order. First, gather your proof while it still exists: every receipt, the advertisement or its photograph, your messages with the agent, and the screenshots from your check. Second, go back once, calmly, and ask for your money back in clear words — some operators return money quickly when they see the customer has documents. Third, if the money does not come back, report the matter to BE&OE and your district Protector of Emigrants office, and take your papers with you. Silence is what these operators count on; a complaint with papers attached is what they fear. Then warn people in your area — one honest warning can save the next family.
Warning signs of a fake agent
The licence check is only half the defence — pressure, cash-without-receipt and visit-visa tricks are the other half. Learn all of them in our guide to avoiding job fraud.
What to do if you were cheated
Already paid a fake agent? Do not stay silent — the full recovery steps are in our job fraud guide.
How do Indian workers check a Recruiting Agent on eMigrate?
India runs the same kind of protection through the eMigrate system (emigrate.gov.in), under the Protector General of Emigrants, Ministry of External Affairs. A legal Indian recruiter is a registered Recruiting Agent (RA) holding a Registration Certificate under the Emigration Act, 1983.
- Open emigrate.gov.in and use the Recruiting Agent search to check the agent's registration number and validity.
- The agent's office address and registration number must match what is printed in the advertisement and on the office board.
- If your passport is in the ECR (Emigration Check Required) category, you also need emigration clearance from your Protector of Emigrants (PoE) office before travelling to work in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman or Bahrain. ECNR passport holders do not need this clearance.
- Never pay above the government-prescribed service charge, and always take a receipt. An unregistered agent recruiting for foreign jobs is breaking Indian law.
Know your own passport before you start. Whether it is ECR or ECNR is shown in the passport itself, and that one fact decides whether you personally need emigration clearance before departure. Workers lose days at the last step because nobody told them to look. Look now, while nothing is urgent.
The habit is the same: never ask the agent whether he is registered — ask the system. An unregistered operator changes the subject, or tells you the website "does not work". That reaction is your answer.
Going to Saudi Arabia? After the agent checks out, follow the Saudi work visa process, step by step.
The whole check on one page
| Step | What you do | Pass sign | Fail sign |
| 1 | Get both numbers in writing from the ad, the listing or the office board | Both numbers given freely | Numbers refused, delayed or called "secret" |
| 2 | Search the licence number on beoe.gov.pk | Agency name matches | No record, or a different agency's name |
| 3 | Read the status line | Status shows Valid | Expired or suspended |
| 4 | Compare the office address | Same office as the record | A shop or sub-agent in another place |
| 5 | Check the permission number against the job | Same agency, same country, same trade | Another demand, country or trade |
| 6 | Screenshot both results | Saved with your papers | — |
Passed the check? Keep your side ready too — here is the documents checklist for Gulf jobs.
Two plain facts are worth remembering from all of this. In Pakistan, an Overseas Employment Promoter may only recruit workers against a demand that the Bureau of Emigration & Overseas Employment has approved, and that approval carries the permission number. And on InGulfJobs, every published job prints the recruiter's licence number and the job's permission number on the listing itself, so the check described on this page can be run on any job here before you contact anyone.
Want to know what happens on our side before a job appears? Read how InGulfJobs verifies every job. Licensed recruiters can also see how Featured Campaigns work. And when a listing passes your check, register free for new job alerts.
Key points
- A legal recruiter in Pakistan is an Overseas Employment Promoter (OEP) licensed by the Bureau of Emigration & Overseas Employment (BE&OE).
- Every genuine job needs two numbers: the OEP licence number and the BE&OE permission number for that specific demand.
- Both checks are free on beoe.gov.pk and take about two minutes on a phone.
- The licence status must show Valid, and the permission must name the same agency, the same country and the same trade as the job you are buying.
- A valid licence with a missing or wrong permission number is still a failed check.
- Never pay, and never hand over your original passport, before both numbers pass.
- Indian workers check a Recruiting Agent's registration free on emigrate.gov.in, and ECR passport holders need Protector of Emigrants clearance before departure.
Questions workers ask us
Does this check cost anything?
Nothing — the check is completely free. Checking on beoe.gov.pk costs nothing, and neither does the Recruiting Agent search on emigrate.gov.in. If someone offers to "verify" an agent for a fee, that offer is itself a warning sign.
Can I do the check on my phone?
Yes — an ordinary phone is all you need. Both websites open in a phone browser. Type the address yourself, enter the number exactly as printed, and save a screenshot of the result with your papers.
The licence is valid, but the agent says the permission is still "applied for". Should I pay to reserve my seat?
No — never pay against an unapproved demand. Applied for means not approved, and it may never be approved at all. A genuine agency can afford to wait. Paying to hold a seat in an unapproved demand is exactly how booking-amount fraud works.
The name on the website is slightly different from the name in the advertisement. Does it matter?
Yes — treat it as a problem until it is explained. A spelling slip in a newspaper ad happens, but a different name, city or address can mean two different businesses, and only one of them holds the licence.
The agent refuses to give me the numbers and says they are confidential. What then?
Walk away — the numbers are not confidential. They are printed in newspaper advertisements and on office boards precisely so that workers can check them. A refusal to share them is the loudest answer an agent can give you.
I am dealing with a sub-agent in my own town, not the main office. Is the check the same?
Yes — and it matters even more. Run the licence number of the agency he claims to work for, then make sure your agreement and your receipt carry that agency's own name and number, not the sub-agent's. Money paid to a man in his own name, against a receipt in his own name, is money the licensed agency can later deny ever seeing.
The licence shows Valid but the office address is in a different city. Should I worry?
Yes — stop and sort it out before paying. The record names the office that holds the licence. If you are sitting somewhere else, you may be in a branch, with a sub-agent, or with a stranger trading on the name. Your paperwork should connect you to the office in the record.
Both numbers passed. What do I do next?
Go ahead — carefully. Keep your screenshots, get every promise in writing, and follow the process in its proper order: selection first, medical after selection, and no travel without the Protector stamp. If you are heading to Saudi Arabia, the Saudi work visa process, step by step shows what should happen from here.
I checked months ago and everything was fine. Do I need to check again before paying?
Yes — check again on the day you pay. Licences expire and licences get suspended. The record that matters is the one standing on the day your money leaves your hand, not the one from the day you first saw the advertisement.