Purveyors of dreams: labour recruiters in the Pakistan to Saudi Arabia migration corridor

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper provides an empirical account of how Pakistani labour recruiters, or ‘overseas employment promotors’ (OEPs), manage the needs and expectations of their migrant-clients while contending with the challenges of state governance. OEPs’ first-hand accounts suggest that they are frustrated by their inability to adequately ensure that the migrants they send to the Persian Gulf will thrive from the experience. OEPs identify three main issues that affect their ability to do their job well: unscrupulous recruiters and companies based in the Gulf who use the issuance of labour contracts to extract profits from migrants and Pakistani recruiters; a lack of support both from the Pakistani and Saudi Arabian state to address core issues that hamper migrants’ success; and the challenge of mediating long-distance on behalf of their migrant-clients once they are working in the Gulf.