How to check an RA licence on eMigrate

The eMigrate portal (emigrate.gov.in) is the Ministry of External Affairs’ system for overseas employment. Its public list of registered Recruiting Agents (RAs) is the primary official source for checking whether an agent may lawfully recruit Indian workers for jobs abroad.

What to do

1. Open emigrate.gov.in and find the “Registered Recruiting Agents” (RA list) section.
2. Search by the agency’s name and separately by its licence number if you have it. Try partial names too — agencies sometimes register under a slightly different legal name than their signboard.
3. When you find a match, check every field:
   • Status — must be active. “Suspended”, “cancelled”, or an expired validity date means the agent may not recruit.
   • Name — must match the agency you are dealing with, not merely resemble it. Fraudsters copy the names of legitimate agencies with one word changed.
   • Address — must match the office you visited. A licence registered in Mumbai does not validate a walk-in office in Kochi unless that branch is also registered.
   • Validity dates — licences expire and are renewed; check the period covers today.

What a match does and does not mean

A valid RA licence means the agent is legally permitted to recruit and is subject to MEA oversight, capped service charges, and complaint procedures. It is a necessary check, not a guarantee: a licensed agent can still overcharge or misrepresent a job. Keep receipts and verify the job offer itself — see how to verify a Gulf recruitment agent.

If there is no match

No match means the person is not authorised to recruit for overseas jobs, whatever else their office displays — GST certificates, shop licences, and company incorporation papers are not recruitment licences. Do not pay. If they claim to “work under” another company’s licence, contact that company directly and ask; sub-agents operating this way are a common fraud pattern and the licence holder is often unaware of them.

Common excuses to ignore

• “The eMigrate site is not updated yet.” — The list is the official record; if they are not on it, they are not licensed.
• “We are a consultancy, not a recruiter, so we don’t need it.” — If they arrange overseas jobs and take money for it, they need it.
• “Our partner company holds the licence.” — Then the partner company, at its registered address, should be the one you deal with and pay.