“This is an invitation to replace analysis by slogans, to be guided by grand dogma, either of one kind, or of another.”
Amartya Sen, Nobel Banquet speech, Stockholm, 10 December 1998
Sen was describing economists being pushed to answer without qualifications, without ifs and buts. A recruiter's office runs on the same pressure. Everybody goes this way. The seat will be gone tonight. Do you want the job or not. Each of those is a slogan offered in place of an answer, and the cure is the same one Sen asked for: put the question again, and wait for the analysis.
Source: Ministry of External Affairs guidelines for registration as Recruiting Agents under the Emigration Act, 1983, checked August 2026. Credit insurance is now permitted alongside the bank guarantee as the required security.
About the agency itself
- 1. Are you a registered Recruiting Agent, or a sub-agent? Either is legitimate. Refusing to say which is the finding.
- 2. What is the Registration Certificate number, and in what name is it issued? You want the registered name, not the signboard.
- 3. When does it expire? Certificates run five years and a lapsed one carries no more weight than none.
- 4. If you are a sub-agent, which registered agent will my file sit under? You are entitled to that name and number, and to see the authorisation.
- 5. How long have you been placing candidates in this country? Not a test, just a conversation that is hard to fake in detail.
The three-minute lookup turns the second answer into a fact rather than a claim.
About the job
- 6. Which employer, by full legal name? A name you can search for independently.
- 7. Is the employer registered on eMigrate? Required for an ECR deployment, and worth insisting on either way.
- 8. What is the salary in the local currency, and what sits on top of it? Accommodation, food, transport, and how overtime is calculated, each answered separately.
- 9. Who pays for the ticket, the visa and the medical, in both directions? The most expensive sentence is usually the missing one.
- 10. Can I see the contract before I pay anything? The answer should be yes without qualification.
About money
- 11. Exactly what will I be charged, and for what? In writing, itemised, before anything is paid.
- 12. Will every payment come with a receipt naming what it was for? A payment with no receipt is a payment that never happened.
- 13. Which of these costs are yours and which are paid to other people? Passport, attestation and the medical go to other offices, and should be listed separately from the agency's own charge.
- 14. What happens to my money if the visa is refused? You want a clear answer, not a reassurance.
- 15. Is any payment being asked for before I have a written offer? If yes, that is the answer to every other question.
Question 11 is the one people rush. Whatever you are asked to pay, ask for it in writing first, itemised rather than bundled into a single figure, and get a receipt naming what each payment was for. An agency that is straight with you will put that in writing without being pushed.
What the answers should sound like
| You asked | A straight answer | A warning |
|---|---|---|
| Registered agent or sub-agent? | Says which, immediately | Changes the subject |
| RC number and expiry | Gives both | Shows a photo of an office instead |
| Employer's legal name | A searchable company | "A big company in Dubai" |
| Salary | A figure in local currency | A rupee range, or "depends" |
| Contract before payment | Yes | "After the registration fee" |
| Charges | Itemised, in writing | One large number, said aloud |
| Receipts | Yes, for everything | "We do not usually give one" |
| If the visa is refused | A clear position | "That never happens" |
Notice that the right-hand column is rarely a lie. It is usually an evasion, which is easier to produce and easier to miss. Judge the hesitation, not just the sentence.
What to do after the meeting
The questions are only half of it. What separates candidates who lose money from candidates who do not is almost always what happened in the two days afterwards, when nobody was watching and the pressure to commit was highest.
- Write down the answers the same day, while you still remember the wording. A note made at the time is worth far more later than a memory of a conversation.
- Check the two things that can be checked independently: the agent's registration on the government list, and the employer's existence as a company.
- Ask for the important answers again in writing, on WhatsApp if nothing else. A person who will say a number but not type it has told you something.
- Sleep on it. No genuine mobilisation collapses because a candidate took a night to think. Every fraud depends on you not taking one.
- Tell one other person the details, ideally someone at home who is not excited about the job. They will notice things you have stopped noticing.
If you have already paid and the answers have started changing, stop paying immediately. The most expensive mistake in this whole field is the second payment made to protect the first.
Where Disha fits, honestly
Disha Global Workforce works under the authorisation of a licensed Recruiting Agent and we do not hold our own Registration Certificate. That is the answer to question 1, and we would rather you read it here than have to extract it.
Ask us the other fourteen. We recruit candidates with Non-ECR passports and a minimum qualification of 10+2, for the countries we actually serve in the Gulf, Southeast Asia and parts of Europe, and we do not recruit for the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom or Australia. Applying to us is free, and any charge that arises is explained in writing with a receipt before it is paid. If our answers are worse than someone else's, use someone else.
Put the fifteen to us
Send the list. We will answer every one in writing, including which registered agent your file would sit under.
Frequently asked questions
Is it rude to ask a recruiter for their registration details?
No, and a genuine agency is asked several times a week. The Registration Certificate number, the name it is issued in and its expiry are ordinary facts about a regulated business, not private information. An agency that treats the question as an insult has answered it.
What is the most important question to ask?
Whether you can see the employment contract before paying anything. A genuine agency has one to show because there is a real employer behind it. If the contract is always coming tomorrow, or can only be seen after a registration fee, that single answer settles the matter without any argument.
What should I get in writing before I pay a recruitment agency?
The costs set out in writing before any payment, itemised rather than bundled into one figure, and a receipt naming what each payment was for. Costs paid to other parties, such as your passport, attestation and the medical examination, should be listed separately from anything the agency itself charges, so you can see which is which.
Is dealing with a sub-agent a problem?
Not in itself, provided they say so and name the registered agent your file will sit under. The job is filed by the registered agent. What should worry you is a sub-agent who implies they hold their own Registration Certificate, or who will not say whose authorisation they work under.
What if the answers sound fine but something still feels wrong?
Slow down, and notice that the right answers are rarely lies in these situations, they are evasions. Ask for the things that can be checked independently: the registration number, the employer's legal name, the contract, a receipt. Anything that survives an independent check is worth more than anything said in a room.
This article explains the legal position as it stood on 30 August 2026 and is general information, not legal advice. Charge ceilings and registration requirements change. Always confirm against the Ministry of External Affairs, and report suspected fraud to the police.