Welder and fitter jobs, in India and the Gulf

Picture a welder who did a one-year ITI Welder course in Bihar after Class 8, then four years of stick welding in a fabrication shop in Jamshedpur. A cousin in Dammam tells him pipe welders there earn several times what he makes. Within a week an "agent" on WhatsApp offers him a job, asks for ₹1.2 lakh, and says a visit visa will be "converted" after he lands.

The one question that stops this kind of fraud: "What is the agent's licence number on eMigrate?" In offers like this, there isn't one.

Welding and fitting are among the best-paid trades in India once you have the right certificates, and among the most wanted abroad. They are also the trades most targeted by fake overseas recruiters. This piece covers both halves: the tests and certificates that decide your pay, and the legal route to a Gulf job.

What "6G" and the other test names mean

Job posts for welders are full of codes: "6G TIG/ARC welder", "3G/4G structural", "ASME qualified". They describe the welding position and process you have been tested in, and they matter far more to an employer than your ITI marks.

Positions. Plate tests are numbered 1G to 4G: flat, horizontal, vertical and overhead. Pipe tests go up to 5G (pipe fixed horizontally, you weld around it) and 6G (pipe fixed at a 45-degree angle, so you weld in every position in one joint). 6G is the hardest, and passing it qualifies you for most positions, which is why pipeline, refinery and power plant jobs ask for it.

Processes.

• SMAW, also called stick or "arc" welding: the most common in Indian shops and on structural sites
• GTAW, also called TIG: precise, used for stainless steel and root passes on critical pipe joints
• GMAW and FCAW (MIG/MAG and flux-cored): fast, used in fabrication shops and shipyards

"TIG/ARC" in a Gulf ad usually means a TIG root pass followed by stick welding to fill and cap the joint.

Codes. Your test is done to a code. ASME Section IX is the standard for boilers, pressure vessels and process piping. AWS D1.1 covers structural steel. ISO 9606 is common with European clients. A third-party inspector watches you weld a test coupon, which is then bend-tested or X-rayed, and you get a Welder Performance Qualification record stating the process, position, material and thickness range you are qualified for.

Fitters: the other half of the joint

A welder can only weld what the fitter has set up. The trades work as a pair on every project.

• Pipe fitter. Reads isometric drawings, cuts and bevels pipe, sets fit-up gaps and alignment, tacks spools and supports. Refineries, power plants, pipelines and fabrication yards hire them.
• Structural fitter or fabricator. Marks, cuts and assembles beams, columns and plates from fabrication drawings.
• Mechanical or maintenance fitter. In factories: pumps, gearboxes, conveyors, alignment and bearing work.

A fitter's test is practical: read an isometric, calculate a cut length, mark a branch connection, set a gap and alignment with the right tools. Being able to read drawings well is what separates a fitter from a helper, and a foreman from a fitter.

Where welders and fitters earn most in India

The ITI course is the start. Here's the order in which jobs usually pay, from lower to higher:

1. 1Small fabrication and repair shops. Daily or monthly pay, often no PF. Good for learning, bad for staying.
2. 2Factories and auto-parts plants. Steady salary, often MIG welding on a line or robotic welding cells. Welder and fitter apprenticeships are common here: the apprenticeship openings listed on Highlisted in mid-November 2026 included over 1,600 welder seats and over 4,400 fitter seats.
3. 3Shipyards and heavy fabrication yards. Mumbai, Goa, Kochi, Visakhapatnam, Kolkata and the Gujarat coast. Structural and pipe work, more certification.
4. 4Refinery, petrochemical and power plant shutdowns. Contractors hire coded pipe welders and fitters for a few weeks at a time, at high rates. Long hours, then a gap until the next job.
5. 5Pipeline and LNG projects, and offshore. The best-paid domestic work for 6G welders, often in remote locations.

Job posts that state pay put these trades in the general technician range: among technician and trade jobs on Highlisted in mid-November 2026 that stated pay, the median was ₹2.7 lakh a year (177 posts), rising to about ₹4.4 lakh at three to seven years (28 posts, a small sample). Coded pipe welders on shutdowns and projects earn well above these medians, because they are paid for scarce, tested skill rather than for the trade name.

Going to the Gulf: the legal route

India regulates overseas recruitment under the Emigration Act, 1983, run by the Ministry of External Affairs through the Protector General of Emigrants. Here is what that means for you.

Is your passport ECR or ECNR?

If you have not passed Class 10 (matriculation), your passport is usually in the ECR category, "Emigration Check Required". Many welders who did ITI after Class 8 are in this group. An ECR passport holder going for work to any of the 19 ECR countries must get Emigration Clearance from a Protector of Emigrants through the e-Migrate portal before leaving. Those countries are Afghanistan, Bahrain, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Thailand, the UAE and Yemen. Clearance for Libya and Yemen is currently suspended.

If you passed Class 10 or more, you are normally ECNR and don't need clearance, but you can register voluntarily on e-Migrate and buy the same insurance cover, and it is worth doing.

Use only a registered recruiting agent

No person or company may recruit workers for jobs abroad without a registration certificate from the Ministry. Every registered agent has a licence number, which must be shown in its office and its advertisements, including on social media. Before you share any document, open e-Migrate, go to the list of active recruiting agents, and check that the number, name and address match.

Watch the ministry's own numbers: as of 9 April 2026 it had notified 3,505 illegal agents on e-Migrate, and complaints it received about overseas recruitment rose from 1,006 in 2023 to 1,541 in 2025.

What the agent can charge you

Under the Emigration Act, a registered agent cannot collect more than ₹30,000 plus 18% GST from you as its service charge, and it must give you a receipt for what it collects. The ministry's own advisory warns of illegal agents taking ₹2 lakh to ₹5 lakh. If anyone asks for more than the cap, or for cash without a receipt, walk away.

Paperwork a real job comes with

• An employment contract signed by the foreign employer, the recruiting agent and you, stating the job, salary, hours and other benefits. Read it before you fly, not after.
• An employment or work visa. Never go on a tourist or visit visa with a promise that it will be "converted"; the ministry specifically warns against this.
• Pravasi Bharatiya Bima Yojana (PBBY) insurance. Compulsory for ECR workers going to ECR countries: ₹10 lakh cover for accidental death or permanent disability, plus hospitalisation and other benefits, for a one-time premium of ₹275 for two years or ₹375 for three years.
• Minimum referral wages. For ECR countries the ministry fixes a minimum wage for each category of Indian worker, and employers there are not supposed to hire below it. Ask the agent what the referral wage for your category is.

Some Gulf countries also now ask for a skills test in India before issuing a work visa for certain trades; Saudi Arabia's Skill Verification Program is one. Ask your registered agent whether your trade and destination need it, and where the test centre is.

If something goes wrong

The ministry's Pravasi Bharatiya Sahayata Kendra runs a 24x7 helpline in 11 languages: toll-free 1800 11 3090 from India, +91 11 2688 5021 from abroad, and WhatsApp +91 74283 21144. Complaints against registered agents can also be filed on e-Migrate; agents who don't resolve them can lose their registration.

Getting ready for an overseas trade test

Agents and employers hold trade tests in Indian cities before selection. For welders, expect to weld a coupon in the process and position the job asks for (often 6G pipe), watched by the employer's inspector. For fitters, expect a drawing-reading and fit-up test. Practise the exact test before you go; many candidates fail on the root pass because they've only done flat work for years.