Can you get a direct work permit, meaning a direct work visa for Azerbaijan while sitting in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, or Sri Lanka?

That’s why you have to be careful about these things. Under what circumstances can you get a work permit for Azerbaijan — we will talk about this in today’s video. If you are new to the channel, then subscribe to the channel. I often share all visa and immigration updates related to Azerbaijan, so please subscribe to the channel. If you have any question, you can ask me in the comments.

The matter is actually like this — if someone tells you that he will give you a direct work permit for Azerbaijan while you are sitting in your home country, then how will he give it to you? If a businessman is present here in Azerbaijan and has his own business here — I’ll give you an example: if someone has a restaurant here, then in that case, the visa he can take for you could be a chef visa or a cashier visa for you.

Other cases — like if someone says he will take a waiter visa, or a driver visa, or a plumber visa for you — that is completely false. Why is it false? Because the Azerbaijani government says that first of all, if you come here and start a business, then the hiring you do for that business must be Azerbaijani labor. Always, Azerbaijan allows visas for people who are Azerbaijani citizens.

For example, if someone opens a restaurant here, then one of the requirements is that he must hire at least four to five local Azerbaijani citizens. After that, if he needs an expert person, for example, if there is a Pakistani or Indian restaurant, and he wants to make Pakistani or Indian food, then obviously, the chef he will need must be Indian or Pakistani, because Azerbaijani people don’t know that cooking style.

So what will he do? He will take your passport and your diploma (which must be a chef diploma) and your medical report. Then he will apply with all these documents to the Azerbaijani ministries, and a team from the ministry will come to his restaurant to check whether he really needs this person and whether he has local staff already employed.

If they find that he has already hired four or five local Azerbaijanis and now genuinely needs a chef, then they will approve the visa. But in some cases, the visa gets rejected if they are not fully satisfied. It’s not 100% guaranteed that the visa will be approved — but mostly, people do get their visas approved.

However, if someone says, “I have a restaurant, and I will bring you on a driver visa, waiter visa, plumber visa, or electrician visa,” then that is completely false. There is no such thing.

In Azerbaijan, there are also people who say, “We got a Bolt (taxi) visa offer.” But no, no one from other countries can come to Azerbaijan and drive taxis under Bolt or any other company. The only people who can drive taxis are Indians or Pakistanis who have married Azerbaijani citizens — they can drive taxis here.

If you come here on a work visa, don’t think that you can drive a taxi, or work as a plumber, electrician, or salesman. Those jobs are very, very rare, especially driver jobs are not possible at all.

Maybe in some cases, someone might illegally hire you secretly as a plumber or electrician, but that’s a different matter.

Let me tell you something technical — anyone who calls you on a work visa or converts your visit visa into a work visa will only do so in a field that has a shortage in Azerbaijan. That person must prove that he cannot find such a worker in Azerbaijan, so he is calling you from his home country, and that you are an expert in that work. For that, he will also prepare your diploma and get it translated into Azerbaijani or English, which is mandatory. Only in that case can you get a direct work permit.

You must avoid scams — people who say they’ll give you a direct work permit but actually give you a visit visa, and later say they’ll convert it — don’t fall into that trap. Whenever someone says they can get you an Azerbaijan visa, don’t make any payment in advance. Give your documents only to a 100% trustworthy person.

After your visa is approved, and your job is confirmed, and once you have verified that your visa is real, only then you should pay money or fulfill your commitment. Never give advance payments under any circumstances.

The Azerbaijan visa is very difficult to get. Those who do get it, it’s a bit challenging — not an easy process.