2.2.1 Trading of Illegal Azad Visas Direct or Process visas (also known as Azad Visas) can be bought and sold in the informal visa trading market that is active in the Pakistan-Gulf migration corridor. Individual visas are granted by the governments of GCC countries to local sponsors for the hiring of household workers such as female domestic staff, drivers, gardeners, and a range of other low wage jobs. However, instead of being used for its intended purpose, the visa is often sold to those wishing to come to the GCC but who are unable to find full-time employment or prefer the flexibility of being able to work informally and perceive that it offers greater labour mobility.23 Visas issued by GCC countries tie foreign labour to a specific employer under the Kafala system. An Azad Visa is essentially a normal work visa tied to a sponsor in a GCC country but in a situation where the sponsor is typically paid a fee by the worker in order to enter the country of destination, rather than given a job. Azad Visas are perceived to offer a migrant worker the chance to informally work in multiple jobs and thus obtain multiple streams of income, making it viewed as a more attractive option than a regular visa. However, the GCC states consider Azad Visas as illegal and this puts the worker completely at the mercy of her or his sponsor. This makes the worker vulnerable to exploitation such as forced labour or financial extortion for the renewal of residency and exit permits24 while avoiding any of the benefits a sponsor is meant to provide to her or his employee. The practice has been condemned by Saudi, Qatari and Kuwaiti authorities and the Pakistani government but no strategies for raising awareness or preventing people from falling into this trap have been taken. In fact, even a simple search on a local advertising platform for an Azad Visa turns up advertisements allowing people to purchase such a visa. According to one OEP representative, even when official overseas work orders from Pakistan are low, many Pakistanis are able to obtain an Azad Visa with limited checks and monitoring by the state making it an ideal tool for those who seek to traffic individuals for the purposes of smuggling drugs. The process of trading and obtaining an Azad Visa is informal and often complex, making it difficult to track the exact process by which individuals may have acquired one. Migrants often arrange employment with an Azad Visa secured through relatives or personal contacts leading to situations where both the worker and the employer overseas may very well have no direct interaction Figure 1.2 Screenshot taken from OLX, an online marketplace where local communities can buy and sell Azad Visas for jobs overseas with another. Under this 10