Hiring skilled tradesmen from India: every step from request to arrival

If you have hired from India before, you know the feeling. A welder is "confirmed" in March, the project needs him in April, and in June you are still asking the agent for an update on WhatsApp. Nobody is lying to you. You just can't see where the file is.

I work on project sites in Saudi Arabia, and that gap is the reason we started AQLIA. This article lays out the full route a skilled worker takes from your request to your site, in the order it really happens. Use it as a checklist whether you hire through us or not.

The short version

1. You write down what you need: trade, number of workers, salary, site, and when.
2. A licensed Indian agency (or a pool like ours) puts forward a shortlist of workers whose documents have been checked.
3. You interview the ones you like, by video, before anyone travels.
4. You choose. The worker is held for you while the paperwork starts.
5. Once your visa is ready, you issue the Waqala in the name of the licensed Indian agency that will process the worker.
6. In India the agency handles the contract, medical test, police clearance, visa stamping, emigration clearance (only for ECR passports) and the ticket.
7. The worker flies and arrives at your site.

Seven steps. Most delays happen at three of them, so those get the most space below.

1. The request: most problems start here

"Need 10 electricians, urgent" gets you ten CVs and maybe two who fit. Is it building wiring or industrial panels? What salary? Which city? Is the visa already approved, or are you still applying? An agency can only shortlist against what you wrote.

We wrote a separate guide on this: how to brief a recruitment request so the shortlist fits. The ten minutes it takes saves weeks later.

2. The shortlist

A good shortlist is short. Three to seven workers per trade line, each with the documents someone has actually looked at: passport validity, trade certificates, experience. Ask who checked them. If the answer is "the candidate sent them", nobody did.

On AQLIA every worker on your shortlist has been verified by our team before you see the profile, and we add one or two backups so you are not starting over if your first choice drops out.

3. The interview

Fifteen minutes on video tells you more than any CV. Ask the worker to walk you through the last job he did, in his own words. You will hear in a minute whether he has done the work or just listed it. Our 15-minute video interview script gives you the questions.

4. You choose, and the worker is held

Once you pick someone, he should stop being offered to other employers. Good agencies do this informally. We do it in the system: the worker is held for a set number of days so your paperwork can start.

5. The Waqala: where the clock really starts

The offer letter feels like the finish line. It isn't. Nothing moves in India until your visa is ready and you issue the Waqala (the authorisation) in the name of the licensed Indian recruiting agency that will process the worker. Issuing it takes minutes. Waiting for it is where many hires go quiet.

One practical tip: ask early whose name the Waqala should carry, and have the visa ready before you interview. Then the day you choose a worker is the day processing can start.

6. Processing in India

This is the part employers see least, so it gets its own article: what happens in India after you issue the Waqala. In short, the agency arranges the medical test, police clearance and visa stamping, gets emigration clearance if the worker's passport is ECR, and books the ticket.

Every one of those has a date. If you can't see the dates, ask for them. On AQLIA you see each step on your account as the agency ticks it, and the medical, visa and ticket steps only show once our team has seen the proof.

7. Arrival

Have someone meet the worker, with accommodation, transport and site induction ready. The first week decides a lot about whether he stays.

Where hires usually get stuck

• A request without salary or site, so the shortlist does not fit.
• Choosing a worker before the visa is ready, so he waits and takes another offer.
• No one asking for dates during processing in India.
• A worker who passed the interview but never had his documents checked.

None of these need new rules or new software to fix. They need someone watching each step. If you want us to be that someone, post your request. It costs nothing to send and commits you to nothing.