11.2012. The Arab Gulf is the third largest receiving region for global
migrants (after North America and the European Union). The six states of the
Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) are the richest Arab economies, boast some of
the highest GDP per capita rankings in the world, and they all depend upon
guest workers in virtually every economic sector. Guest workers have played an
integral role in the Gulf since the 1970s, supplying the skills and manpower
needed to implement ambitious development plans.
Officially, the non-citizens residing in the Gulf are not migrants but
temporary contractual laborers with little to no recourse for permanent
settlement or citizenship. They enter the country as guest workers under
fixed-term employment contracts and are obliged to leave upon the termination of
their work. Their stay is regulated through the Kalafa or sponsorship system,
which makes an individual national citizen or company sponsor (known as the
Kafeel) legally and economically responsible for the foreign worker for the
duration of the contract period. However, following the trend of most other
guest worker schemes, the Kafala has produced a structural dependence on
foreign labor that is not subsiding despite growing public discontent and
rising unemployment rates among Gulf citizens.
In this article, Noora Lori examines the formal and informal
institutions that support the inward flows of large numbers of foreign laborers
while excluding non-citizens from full integration into Gulf societies.
