Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates are moving closer to manpower arrangements that could revive employment opportunities for Pakistani workers, with progress possible within weeks, according to Adnan Paracha, Vice Chairman of the Overseas Employment Promoters Association. Speaking on the Kaff Podcast with host Raja Kamran, he said the UAE had shared certain documentation requirements with Pakistan. Islamabad must meet those requirements before Pakistani workers can gain wider access to the UAE labour market. “I hope that within the coming month, Pakistan’s youth should receive some good news,” Paracha said. He said employment business from the UAE remained limited. However, he expects movement within the next month to six weeks if both governments complete the proposed arrangements. Pakistan’s interior minister was also taking an interest in the matter, he added. Paracha said workers from other countries had filled many UAE jobs during the past three years. At the same time, the flow of Pakistani manpower slowed sharply. He said the UAE now needed workers again. That could give Pakistan a chance to regain ground in one of its most important overseas employment markets. Paracha also rejected the view that UAE employment visa problems began after the Iran-US war. He said the difficulties had developed over nearly three years. Recent regional tensions alone could not explain the situation. UAE visa problems predate recent conflict Paracha said Pakistan’s manpower relationship with the UAE dates back to around 1975. Pakistani workers played a major role in the country’s construction and development during the 1980s and 1990s, he added. He estimated that 1.3 million to 1.4 million Pakistanis currently live and work in the UAE. The UAE also remains one of Pakistan’s biggest sources of remittances after Saudi Arabia. Paracha said monthly remittances from the UAE had at times approached $1 billion. Pakistan received around $1 billion from the UAE about a month before the interview, he added. Problems with visit visas became more visible after Covid-19, especially from 2022. Employment visas then started becoming increasingly difficult for Pakistanis from November 2023, according to Paracha. He linked the decline partly to changes in the UAE’s immigration and employment systems. Pakistan sent around 220,000 workers to the UAE in 2022, he said. The figure later fell to about 129,000 to 130,000. It then dropped further to around 60,000 to 70,000. “This difference has been continuing for the last three years. It is not because of the war,” he said. Paracha said the same pressure that existed before the recent conflict had simply continued. The decline has also affected white-collar workers, skilled professionals and educated Pakistanis. Many of them traditionally preferred the UAE as an employment destination. Paracha said around 90,000 educated and professional Pakistanis had once gone abroad each year. That number later fell to about 62,000. It has now dropped to around 40,000 to 45,000, he said. He argued that reduced access to major employment markets had contributed to the decline. Pakistan’s wider regional role The discussion also touched on Pakistan’s wider regional position. Host Raja Kamran referred to Pakistan’s defence cooperation with Saudi Arabia and Turkiye. He also noted Islamabad’s relations with Iran and other major powers. Paracha credited Pakistan’s armed forces and national leadership with maintaining strong ties with several countries. He specifically mentioned the United States, Iran and China. He said defence arrangements with Muslim countries could expand further. Paracha also expected more Gulf states to become part of such cooperation in the future. The conversation then returned to speculation about strains between Pakistan and the UAE. Paracha said the employment visa problem should not be treated as evidence that recent tensions had caused the issue. Visit visas, illegal agents and overstays Paracha said many young Pakistanis began travelling to the UAE on visit visas after employment visas became harder to obtain. After the pandemic, international demand for workers rose sharply. However, countries maintained different quotas and manpower policies for Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and other labour-exporting states. Some Pakistanis found jobs after arriving in the UAE. They then paid the required fees and converted their status from visit visas to employment visas. Others fell victim to what Paracha called an “agent mafia”. He drew a clear distinction between illegal agents and licensed overseas employment promoters. Licensed promoters operate within the government’s formal system, he said. Illegal agents work outside it. According to Paracha, some agents sent unskilled Pakistanis to the UAE on short visit visas. Many workers did not fully understand the difference between visit and employment visas. Some travelled on one-month or two-month visas. Those who found jobs within that period could regularise their status. Those who failed faced several difficult options. They could return to Pakistan, overstay, abscond or become involved in begging or other activities. Paracha acknowledged that some Pakistanis became involved in such practices. However, he said social media gave disproportionate attention to negative cases. He argued that the majority who followed the law received far less attention. Paracha said the Pakistani government should have acted when the problem became visible in 2021 and 2022. He added that authorities could still take action against those responsible. Families spent heavily to send workers abroad Paracha said many workers therefore did not want to return empty-handed. The situation became worse when workers could no longer easily convert visit visas into employment visas. A person with a two-month visit visa had only 60 days to secure a job, he said. Some workers chose to overstay rather than return home. Once they became undocumented, financial pressure increased. Fear of the authorities also made them more vulnerable to illegal agents and other forms of exploitation. Paracha said he had repeatedly raised these problems on media platforms and with government institutions. When asked about deportations, he said Pakistan’s Interior Ministry would have the exact figures. He said deportations had increased during recent months. However, he argued that the reasons differed from those seen after Covid-19. The two periods should therefore be examined separately, he said. Overseas employment costs rise sharply Paracha also