Recruitment agency licence verification, what employers should check

A cross-border recruitment agency operates under a specific licence issued by the source country's labour regulator. The licence is not a marketing claim, it has a number, a status, an expiry date, and a public register entry the buyer can read in five minutes. This article walks through the verification process for the six source-country regulators that matter for European and Gulf hiring, names the licence formats to look for, and explains what suspension or delisting actually means for an active corridor.

The verification principle

Every source-country recruitment licence is issued by a named authority, carries a unique number in a documented format, and appears on a public register the regulator maintains. The buyer's verification is to ask the agency for the number, cross-check it against the regulator's published list, and confirm the licence is currently active (not suspended, not delisted, not under enforcement review).

An agency that hesitates to provide its licence number, that promises to "send it later", or that gives a number the regulator's public register does not recognise has failed verification. There is no second visit to this check, the licence is either real or it is not, and the regulator's register is the source of truth.

Source-country licences, by regulator

Philippines, DMW (Department of Migrant Workers)

The DMW (formerly POEA) licenses land-based recruitment agencies for overseas deployment. Licence numbers follow the format POEA/DMW XXX-LB-DDMMYY-XXX, where LB indicates land-based and the date encodes issuance. The current register is published on dmw.gov.ph under "List of Licensed Recruitment Agencies". The register lists current status (active, suspended, delisted, cancelled) and the destinations covered. An agency licensed only for Saudi Arabia cannot legally file for UAE deployment, and the buyer should check the destination scope on the register, not take the agency's word for it.

Nepal, DOFE (Department of Foreign Employment)

DOFE licenses overseas employment agencies under the Foreign Employment Act 2064 (2007). The licence number is the agency's DOFE permit number, published on dofe.gov.np under "Licensed Recruitment Agencies". The register lists active permits, the agency's headquarters address, and the destinations the licence covers. DOFE also publishes a separate list of "delisted" or "blacklisted" agencies, which buyers should cross-reference. An agency on the delisted list cannot legally file Job Orders, and any corridor running through such an agency is operating illegally on the Nepal side.

India, Protector of Emigrants (PoE) / Ministry of External Affairs

India's Ministry of External Affairs licenses Recruitment Agents (RAs) through the Protector of Emigrants under the Emigration Act 1983. Licence numbers follow the format B-XXXX/[City]/Per/[Worker volume]/[Issue year]. The eMigrate platform at emigrate.gov.in maintains the public register of Registered Recruitment Agents. The platform also publishes the RA's renewal status, headquartered office, and authorised destinations. Indian RAs file under the eMigrate system for ECR (Emigration Check Required) passports, the buyer should confirm both the RA registration and the ECR clearance scope.

United Arab Emirates, MOHRE Tas'heel operator code

UAE-based recruitment and manpower agencies operate under licences issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE). The licence is the Tas'heel service centre operator code, which the agency uses to file work permits and labour contracts through the MOHRE digital portal. The public register is maintained by MOHRE and is accessible through the Tas'heel platform; some Dubai-specific licences are issued by the Dubai Manpower Licence (a Dubai government additional licence that grants access to unlimited UAE visas, in an industry standard framing).

Croatia, HZZ (Hrvatski zavod za zapošljavanje) posting licence

Croatian agencies posting workers under EU law hold an HZZ permit for the posting of workers. The permit is issued under the Croatian Act on Labour and the relevant EU posting directives. The register is maintained by HZZ at hzz.hr, listing licensed posting agencies and the EU member states each is authorised to post to. For third-country worker recruitment into Croatia, the relevant authority is the Ministarstvo rada (Ministry of Labour) through the jedinstvena dozvola (single permit) framework.

Bosnia and Herzegovina / Serbia, Federal Ministry / NSZ

Bosnian agencies register with the BiH Federal Ministry of Civil Affairs (Federalno ministarstvo civilnih poslova) for foreign-worker recruitment activity. Serbian agencies register with the Nacionalna služba za zapošljavanje (NSZ, Serbian National Employment Service) for placement activities including cross-border recruitment. Both registers are maintained at the federal/national level and are publicly accessible. For German destination corridors, both Bosnian and Serbian agencies operate under § 26 Abs. 2 BeschV (the West Balkan Regulation), which is the German Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit) regulation, not a source-country licence, buyers should verify both the source-country registration and the German receiving-end permit pathway.

What suspension and delisting mean

A licence status other than "active" matters operationally. The four common non-active statuses:

Suspended. The agency's licence is temporarily not in good standing, usually due to a pending compliance review, an unresolved worker complaint, or a documentation lapse. A suspended agency cannot file new Job Orders or demand letters. Existing deployments may continue, but the buyer should not engage the agency for new corridors until the suspension is lifted.

Delisted. The agency has been removed from the licensed register, typically for a serious compliance breach. Delisting is the regulator's strongest enforcement action short of criminal referral. A delisted agency cannot legally operate, and any corridor running through one is invalid.

Cancelled. The agency's licence has been formally revoked, either voluntarily or as the result of a regulator action. Same operational implication as delisted.

Renewal pending. The licence has expired and the renewal is in the regulator's queue. Some regulators allow continued operation during the renewal pendency window; others do not. The buyer should ask the regulator directly when the status is unclear.

The verification checklist before signing

Five checks before the buyer signs the agency master services agreement.

1. Pull the licence number from the agency. Ask in the first scoping call; record the response in writing. If the agency hesitates, treat that as a flag.

2. Cross-check on the regulator's public register. Open the regulator's website, find the licensed agencies list, search for the number. Confirm the status is "active" and the destination scope covers the corridor you are buying.

3. Confirm the licence expiry date. Most cross-border recruitment licences are valid for 4 to 5 years and require renewal. If the licence expires inside the planned mobilisation window, ask the agency for the renewal application timeline before signing.

4. Check the delisted / blacklisted list separately. Some regulators (DMW, DOFE) maintain a separate list of agencies removed from the register. Even an agency that appears active on one list may appear on the delisted list, check both.

5. Ask the agency how it covers destination-country licensing. Source-country licensing is one half of the corridor. The destination country has its own licensing requirements, UK Sponsor Licence, UAE MOHRE Tas'heel code, German Bundesagentur für Arbeit posting permit. Ask the agency how it sequences the two sides and which destination licences it holds directly versus partners with.

Why this five-minute check is the first gate

The cross-border recruitment market includes operators at every quality level, from regulator-aligned ethical-recruitment specialists to broker chains that have never filed a Job Order in their own name. The licence verification gate separates the two categories in five minutes. Every other check, milestone payments, replacement guarantees, three-touchpoint surveys, corridor coverage, depends on the agency being legitimately licensed in the first place.

For Werklist, the published licence number is part of every branch page footer. See /contact-companies for the corridor-specific licensing record, or check each branch page directly. The numbers are public; the verification takes the time it takes to open a browser.