LAHORE — The Punjab government has officially dispatched its inaugural cohort of 135 skilled young professionals to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), marking the operational launch of the ‘Parwaaz Card’ initiative.
Addressing a departure ceremony on Wednesday, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz emphasized that the traveling youth are not merely laborers but structural ambassadors representing Pakistan’s professional potential on the global stage. The program is executed by the Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF) under the strategic supervision of the Skills Development and Entrepreneurship Department (SD&ED).
وزیر اعلیٰ مریم نواز شریف کی زیرِ قیادت حکومتِ پنجاب نے ‘پرواز کارڈ’ کے ذریعے نوجوانوں کو بین الاقوامی معیار کی تربیت اور روزگار کے مواقع فراہم کرنے کا عمل شروع کر دیا ہے۔ پہلے مرحلے میں 135 ہنرمند نوجوان بیرونِ ملک روانہ ہو رہے ہیں۔ کنسٹرکشن، ہیلتھ، ٹرانسپورٹ اور انرجی سمیت… pic.twitter.com/xmzovS0Tdx
— PMLN (@pmln_org) June 25, 2026
Key Operational and Financial Highlights
Sector Breakdown: The first deployment consists of 105 candidates selected for the hospitality sector—primarily within Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs)—and 30 professionals bound for the construction industry. Flight departures are scheduled to commence on June 28.
Interest-Free Financing: The Parwaaz Card provides micro-financing loans ranging from Rs. 300,000 to Rs. 1 million per beneficiary to alleviate financial barriers to migration.
Comprehensive Coverage: The individual financing packages entirely cover critical upfront expenses, including visa fees, airfare, mandatory medical examinations, and protectorate processing fees.
Total Fiscal Allocation: The overarching initiative plans to disperse a total of Rs. 6.867 billion in interest-free pre-departure loans to empower 45,000 deserving individuals.
“Providing quality vocational training to the youth of Punjab was a dream, which is now being transformed into reality,” stated Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. She noted that her long-term vision extends to expanding vocational training standards cross-provincially to help Pakistani youth systematically access competitive global markets.
