How to Check That a Job Offer Is Real

01. Check the agency licence

Recruiting workers for jobs abroad is a licensed activity. Most countries keep a public register, and checking it takes a couple of minutes.

• Pakistan. The agency must hold an Overseas Employment Promoter (OEP) licence from the Bureau of Emigration & Overseas Employment. Active licences are published at beoe.gov.pk, and you can confirm one further at a Protector of Emigrants office.
• India. A Recruiting Agent (RA) licence is required, issued by the Protector General of Emigrants under the Ministry of External Affairs. The list is at mea.gov.in. The licence number must appear on the agency's letterhead and website.
• Bangladesh. A Recruiting Licence (RL) from the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training is required. You can check an agency through the government platform oep.gov.bd.
• Other countries. Look for the labour migration authority under your ministry of labour: the register of agencies is usually published on its website.

The rule is simple: an agency must give you its licence number if you ask. Refusing, dodging the question or promising to “show it later” is reason enough to end the conversation.

02. Confirm the employer exists

Find out the company's full name, address and phone number. Call the number you found yourself, on the company website or in a directory, not the one the middleman gave you. It is a simple check, and fraudsters rarely survive it.

Ask who will employ you on paper, who your direct manager will be and at which site you will work. A real employer answers all three without hesitating.

03. Read the contract before you travel

You will most likely sign the contract after you arrive, as is the case almost everywhere. But you need to read it before you fly. Ask for the draft in advance, in a language you understand: you should have time to work through it while you are still at home.

The contract must state:

• the job title and the nature of the work;
• the salary, the currency and when it is paid;
• working hours, days off and overtime pay;
• who pays for the flight, accommodation and medical insurance;
• the length of the contract and how it can be ended.

If they refuse to send the draft, or answer that you will “sort it out on arrival”, treat that as a warning. Verbal promises count for nothing: if a term is not written into the contract, it does not exist.

04. Visa and work permit

Entry usually happens in two stages. First comes an initial visa: in Kyrgyzstan it is issued for around two months, and you enter the country on it. The work permit and the document that lets you stay and work for longer — a residence permit (resident card) or a one-year visa — are arranged after you arrive.

What should worry you is different: being told to enter as a tourist and “sort it out on the spot”; nobody being able to explain clearly what happens when the initial visa runs out; the employer not saying who arranges the work permit, or by when. You are the one who answers for staying without documents — with a fine, deportation and an entry ban.

05. Your passport stays with you

It is unlawful for an employer or agency to hold your passport. The original must stay with you. Copies are enough for paperwork, or a temporary handover against a written receipt stating when it will be returned.

Someone without a passport cannot resign, cannot leave and cannot seek help: that is precisely why it gets taken. If your passport is already being held, seek help immediately.

06. Warning signs

Any one of these is a reason to stop and check again. Two or more together almost certainly means fraud.

• money is requested before a contract is signed;
• they will not give a licence number;
• there is no contract, or it is in a language you do not understand;
• the salary promised is well above the going rate for the work;
• you are rushed: “decide today, the place goes tomorrow”;
• contact is only through a messenger, with no office and no registered company;
• you are asked to hand over your passport;
• you are offered entry on a tourist visa.

07. If you have already been deceived

Silence works for whoever deceived you. Keep everything you have: messages, receipts, names, phone numbers, addresses, copies of documents. Even scattered fragments add up to evidence.

Contact the labour migration authority in your country and your embassy. If you are already in Kyrgyzstan, tell us what happened: we will assess the situation and explain what can be done. It is free, and we do not pass information to the employer.

08. Short answers