A total of 700 Pakistanis have been swindled of their life savings in a fraud case involving a Turkish construction company and its Saudi employees. The workers revealed to The Express Tribune that they arrived in Saudi Arabia toward the end of 2011 and since then have not been allowed to work or travel outside the Kingdom.
A Turkish company hired these workers through different travel and recruiting agencies during 2011 after payment of a hefty sum against visa issuance.
Once the laborers reached the Kingdom, they were informed that the company did not have enough work. “We gave our passports to our respective agents and were issued Iqama (residence permit), but before we could begin work we were informed by a Saudi agent that the company did not have enough work, advising us to wait. He added that the company will call us when they need us,” they said.
As it turned out, the visas issued to the Pakistani’s were in fact illegal.
The Turkish company, instead of helping the stranded Pakistani citizens, blamed their manager for issuing fake visas for work that never existed.
700 Pak laborers become victims of visa fraud
