uncertain process, it is difficult to distinguish between the use of friends and relatives as providers of visas and fraudulent actors who use the Azad Visa to enable illegal work. The original purpose of the direct visa as a visa sent from a foreign employer to an individual in the origin country is still utilized but the room for misuse allows fraudulent actors to take advantage of such an arrangement. With direct visas, there is less oversight, no need for a Foreign Service Agreement,25 or even a contract with the employer. For OEPs who have obtained Azad Visas for workers, the entire documentation process is carried out by a third party actor and the migrant has little to no input in the process. The fact that an OEP can legally retain the passport of a potential migrant worker, get his documents processed and visa stamped without the worker in question ever having to appear before the Protector of Emigrants is representative of the very limited role government authorities, or the migrant themselves, play in the migration process. 2.2.2 Pre-Departure Briefing For those vulnerable citizens who are tricked or coerced into trafficking narcotics across borders, pre-departure briefings could be the difference between life and death. The briefing is an essential tool to provide intending migrants with information to protect them and alert them to the life-threatening dangers of fraudulent recruitment practices. However, most lowskilled migrants, especially those coming from rural areas fail to appear before the Protector and attend the briefings. The Emigration Ordinance 1979 stipulates that, “Before any person emigrates, he shall appear in person, along with the overseas employment promoter by whom he has been engaged or assisted or recruited for employment abroad or his duly authorized representative, before the protector of Emigrants and furnish to him such information as may be prescribed.”26 However, this is rarely followed in practice despite the pivotal role a pre-departure briefing can play in determining a potential migrant’s experience. It involves several significant steps such as the Protector ensuring that “OEPs [who] are responsible for going through the detailed contents of contracts with prospective migrants, in their own language” have done so. There are five Protector of Emigrant offices in the country where a migrant is required to go to get papers stamped and receive a briefing on destination country laws, the dangers of smuggling and other relevant matters. A survey known as the Survey of Returned Migrants conducted in 2007 by the ILO demonstrates that of all their respondents, only 10 percent attended the “mandatory” pre-departure briefings at the protector’s office.27 The somewhat haphazard nature of these briefings where workers simply go to the Protector’s office and wait (sometimes for up to 6 hours) for a 30-minute briefing is a deterrent for people deciding whether or not to attend the briefing. Informal conversations with the Protector of Emigrants’ office in Karachi suggested that the office was aware of the small number of people showing up for briefings but felt that there was little they could do to increase attendance.28 11