Migrant workers in the Gulf states

§ 1 · AT A GLANCE

How each labor law applies

The UAE's 2021 law covers farmworkers employed by companies under the general labor law. Saudi Arabia and Qatar regulate farm and herding work outside the labor code. Bahrain and Oman place it under their domestic-worker rules.

Heat bans are the summer midday bans on outdoor work as reported for 2025 and 2026; ministries set the dates each year.

§ 2 · COMPARE

Build your own comparison

Choose which features matter for your question by moving the sliders. A weighted comparison appears once you set a weight. Each feature counts 2 when in place, 1 when partial and 0 when absent or unclear.

§ 3 · COUNTRY PROFILES

Each state in detail

§ 4 · PEOPLE AND JOBS

Who the workers are and what they do

Migrants are the majority of residents in four of the six states and of private-sector workers in all six. Choose a state to see its population, the balance of men and women, and the sectors where non-nationals work.

§ 5 · FRAMEWORKS AND AGREEMENTS

The normative framework, by level and nature

Every instrument we could trace that binds or guides a Gulf state on migrant workers. Each one is classified by level (international, regional, interregional, bilateral) and by nature (a binding treaty, an agreement, a memorandum of understanding, a protocol or annex, a standard contract, or a declaration or dialogue). Click a cell in the map to filter the list.

A memorandum of understanding usually creates no binding legal obligation; a treaty or agreement does once in force. Binding force also depends on ratification and on each state's constitution.

National laws

The domestic legal instruments that govern migrant work in each state: constitutions, labor and domestic-worker laws, residence and sponsorship rules, wages, heat, trafficking, social security, disputes and recruitment. Each row links to the official text, the official database, or the GLMM copy, and says whom the instrument covers and whom it leaves out.

Link: text = official text; db = official database (search it for the instrument); GLMM = Gulf Labour Markets, Migration and Population copy. "Checked" means the page opened on 31 October 2026; some official sites refuse automated access, so an unchecked link may still work in your browser. Items marked [to verify] or [not verified] are open questions, not findings.

§ 6 · CORRIDORS

Where the workers come from

The largest groups of migrants in each state by country of origin (UN DESA, 2024). A red bar marks a corridor with at least one bilateral labor agreement on record.

§ 7 · EXPLORE THE DATA

Explore patterns across corridors

Each row is one corridor: a sending country and the Gulf state its workers go to. Ask whether corridors with agreements carry more workers, whether sending states that ratified more labor treaties sign more agreements, and more. Results show confidence intervals, p-values and a plain reading.

These are associations between corridors, not proof of cause. Large corridors may attract agreements rather than the other way round.

§ 8 · LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS

What changed, and when

§ 9 · METHOD AND CITATION

How the data was built

The unit of analysis is the state's legal framework on paper (de jure) as of the date shown; enforcement (de facto) is not measured. Each state is coded on the features below by a written rule, from the text of the law where it could be obtained and from institutional or peer-reviewed secondary sources otherwise. Every coding records its source, the date checked and whether it rests on primary text (marked P) or a secondary source (marked S).

Limitations: English translations are unofficial and the Arabic text prevails; ministerial decisions change faster than statutes; enforcement is not measured, only the rules on paper. Instruments are classified by level and nature from their titles and published texts; a memorandum of understanding is treated as non-binding unless its text says otherwise.

Reliability and replication

• Coding protocol: one coder applied the rules above; a second, independent coding of all cells is planned, with agreement reported as Cohen's kappa and disagreements resolved against the primary text. Until then, cells marked S should be treated as provisional.
• Corridor analyses treat each origin–destination pair as a case. Pairs within the same Gulf state are not independent, so the presets include state fixed effects (the Gulf state as a control); the p-values do not correct for clustering and should be read as descriptive.
• Many tests can be run on the same data. Treat any single significant result as a lead to investigate, not a finding; the statistics engine offers a Holm correction for multiple comparisons.
• Any weighted comparison depends on the weights chosen. The stability check under the comparison shows how often each state ranks first across 10,000 random weightings.
• Replication files: the codebook, every coded cell with its source, the instruments list and the corridor data can be downloaded below as CSV and JSON. Each release has a version number and a dated change log.

How to cite

§ 10 · FROM RESEARCH TO PRACTICE

From research to practice

Each country profile above lists the arguments and avenues that its gaps open. The tools below turn them into action.

Read our overview of the legal mechanisms for migrant workers in the Gulf: labor courts, human rights bodies, embassies and international routes.

§ 11 · SOURCES AND DOWNLOADS

Sources and downloads

This page summarizes laws for research and advocacy. It is not legal advice. Found a mistake? Write to secretariat@theimr.org.