While employer-tied visas are becoming increasingly widespread as a tool of immigration control, their most extreme example remains the Kafala system in the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman). All foreign workers in the GCC, barring a negligible minority, are subject to Kafala. This means that they can only enter, work and remain through the sponsorship of a citizen or business.
The Kafala system is not simply a visa framework, as seasonal worker permits in other countries are. It comprises legal codes across several independent jurisdictions, cultural practices and soft laws.
This makes Kafala particularly challenging to abolish, but challenging is not the same as impossible. Kafala could be abolished. Doing so, however, would require commitment and the concerted efforts of local, national, multilateral and interagency all pulling in the same direction.
