Foreign remittance is the second-largest source of foreign exchange in Pakistan which makes international migrant workers key players in the balance of payments equation of Pakistan. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are the most common destinations for unskilled migrant workers from Pakistan. With the increasing costs of migration and the sluggish economic performance of the Middle East in recent years before the pandemic, unskilled workers in the region are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain the flow of remittances to their families. This study contributes to the literature on remittances by: (1) identifying the determinants of sending remittances by unskilled Pakistan migrants in KSA and UAE; (2) finding the determinants of the wage differential between foreign jobs and local jobs of unskilled Pakistani workers; and (3) estimating the average time that a worker needs to potentially repay the costs of migration. Data for the empirical analysis came from the Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) 2015 Migration and Recruitment Costs Survey in Pakistan. The findings suggest that experience and income are the most important determinants of remittances. However, the returns to education and experience are lower in KSA and UAE for unskilled labor as compared to Pakistan. Moreover, the economic costs of migration are high for these workers as it takes between five and nine years to recover the costs of migration. Unskilled migrants are important assets for Pakistan that will boost foreign reserves and reduce the balance of payment deficit. However, the opportunity cost of migration is high for educated and experienced workers and labor migration policies should consider both the costs and benefits of unskilled migration.

外国汇款是巴基斯坦的第二大外汇来源，这使得国际移民工人成为巴基斯坦国际收支平衡的关键参与者。沙特阿拉伯王国 (KSA) 和阿拉伯联合酋长国 (UAE) 是来自巴基斯坦的非技术移民工人最常见的目的地。在大流行之前的近几年，随着移民成本的增加和中东经济表现低迷，该地区的非技术工人发现维持汇款流向家人的难度越来越大。本研究通过以下方式为有关汇款的文献做出了贡献：(1) 确定了在 KSA 和阿联酋的非技术巴基斯坦移民汇款的决定因素；(2) 找出巴基斯坦非技术工人的外国工作和当地工作之间工资差异的决定因素；(3) 估计工人可能需要偿还迁移成本的平均时间。实证分析的数据来自移民与发展知识伙伴关系 (KNOMAD) 和国际劳工组织 (ILO) 2015 年巴基斯坦移民和招聘成本调查。调查结果表明，经验和收入是汇款的最重要决定因素。然而，与巴基斯坦相比，沙特阿拉伯和阿联酋的非熟练劳动力的教育和经验回报较低。此外，这些工人的移民经济成本很高，因为收回移民成本需要五到九年的时间。非技术移民是巴基斯坦的重要资产，可以增加外汇储备并减少国际收支逆差。然而，对于受过教育和有经验的工人来说，移民的机会成本很高，劳务移民政策应考虑非技术移民的成本和收益。