The kafala (sponsorship) system binds all low-status migrant workers in the Gulf to their employers. Generally, the kafala system requires the worker to obtain the employer’s permission to travel or leave the worksite to look for other employment. Regulations require a minimum of two years of work for the sponsor (kafeel) before such permission will even be considered. This encourages widespread wage suppression and conspiracies to deny such permission. Such ‘labour bans’ effectively bind the worker to the employer for a long period of time. More significantly, a worker can’t get an exit visa from the government without permission of the kafeel. According to recent reports from Al Jazeera and the Middle East Eye online news portal, employers frequently use the kafala system to force workers to endure abuse.
If workers reject employers’ demands, the employer can accuse them of vague crimes or breach of contract. Being out of compliance can result in deportation without pay, a significant fine or a prison sentence. The kafala system effectively doesn’t allow workers to dispute non-performance of the employment contract or lodge any serious complaint against their employers. The system thus places a worker at the total mercy of his or her employer. The kafala regulations bind the worker to the employer in the same way that slaves are bound to their owners. Employers of migrant labourers in the Persian Gulf under the kafala system are therefore, effectively, slaveholders.