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About Migration Dialogue

Migration Dialogue provides timely, factual and nonpartisan information and analysis of international migration issues through five major activities: the newsletters Migration News and Rural Migration News, Changing Face and other Research & Seminars, and the Sloan West Coast Program on Science and Engineering Workers.

Contact us at migrant@primal.ucdavis.edu.

Migration News: GCC: Kafala, UAE

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) includes the six countries of the Persian peninsula: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. The GCC countries have some of the world's highest shares of migrant workers in their labor forces, as migrants are over 75 percent of private-sector workers in GCC countries.

Especially after the 1990-91 Gulf War, many GCC countries encouraged employers to shift from Arab to Asian migrant workers. In 2010, almost three-fourths of the migrant workers in GCC countries were Asian; a quarter were Arab. Bahrain is a partial exception, with a smaller share of migrant workers, less than 60 percent, and a Shia majority population ruled by a Sunni minority.

Kalfala. There were about 25 million migrants in Middle Eastern countries in 2010, plus another 10 to 15 percent irregular foreigners. There is little prospect of a reduced demand for migrant workers in Middle Eastern countries or a change in migrant worker policies.

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  • Migration News

    Migration News

    Migration News is produced with the support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and UCB Institute of European Studies. A paper edition is available by mail for $30 domestic and $50 foreign for one year and $55 and $95 for two years. Make checks payable to Migration Dialogue and send to

    Philip Martin, Department of Ag and Resource Economics, University of California, Davis, California 95616 USA.
  • Rural Migration News

    Rural Migration News

    Rural Migration News is produced with the support of the Colcom, Farm, and Giannini Foundations. A paper edition is available by mail for $30 domestic and $50 foreign for one year and $55 and $95 for two-years. Make checks payable to Migration Dialogue and send to

    Philip Martin, Department of Ag and Resource Economics, University of California, Davis, California 95616 USA.
  • Sloan West Coast Program On Science and Engineering Workers

    Sloan West Coast Program On S&E Workers

    This network of researchers hosts seminars on labor and immigration issues affecting science and engineering workers, compiles and distributes information on these issues, and cooperates closely with the NBER's SEWP.

  • Changing Face

    Changing Face

    The Changing Face project assesses the effects of immigrant farm workers on agriculture and agricultural communities.

  • Research & Seminars

    Research & Seminars

    Include Opinion Leader Seminars, the Comparative Immigration and Integration Program, and Transatlantic Migration Policy Issue seminars.