Worker registrations for Oman and Qatar fall sharply, NA told
Business Recorder and Arab News Pakistan report the 2026 decline alongside a rebound in UAE intake, but neither published the size of the fall.
Registrations of Pakistani workers for jobs in Oman and Qatar fell sharply in 2026, while the United Arab Emirates recorded a rebound in intake, the National Assembly was told, according to Business Recorder and Arab News Pakistan, the two outlets that carried the figures.
Business Recorder reported that registrations for both Gulf destinations had plunged this year. Arab News Pakistan described the same shift as a sharp slowdown for Qatar and Oman, set against a recovery in the numbers bound for the UAE. Neither report, as published, gave the size of the decline or the totals registered for each country, and Skardu Times could not independently verify the figures.
The figures were given to the lower house of parliament as part of the government's reporting to lawmakers on overseas employment. Worker registrations are compiled by the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment, which records Pakistanis leaving for work through licensed promoters and through other channels.
The Gulf states (Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Oman) have for years absorbed the bulk of Pakistani labour migration, and the money those workers send home is among the country's largest sources of foreign exchange. A fall in the numbers registered for Qatar and Oman, with the UAE recovering, points to a change in where new jobseekers are finding work rather than a simple drop in demand across the region.
The two reports differed in emphasis rather than in substance: Business Recorder led on the fall in registrations for Oman and Qatar, while Arab News Pakistan led on the same decline alongside the UAE rebound. Neither published account attributed the figures to a named minister or department.
Labour migration is a subject lawmakers have repeatedly raised in parliament, asking about the treatment of Pakistani workers abroad, the fees charged by recruiting agents and the reliability of the registration data itself.
It was not immediately clear from the published accounts whether the government attributed the shift to hiring policy in the two countries, to competition from other labour-supplying states, or to the state of the projects that have historically drawn Pakistani workers to Qatar and Oman.
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