This is a sad reality. When I worked in another GCC country i had to succumb to the same route, where I pretended to go on a tour in Thailand. It was actually an advice given by the agency to me since the position that I qualified for is urgent. According to the agency, from experience, it took some of the applicants around 3 months to fly to middle east from Manila. Some even 6 months... And ofcourse there was the option of bribing them. sadnreality, but it is happening.