Itinerant labour: conceptualising circular, serial and stepwise migrations to the Arab Gulf and onwards

ABSTRACT

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is among the largest receivers of labour migrants in the world. Labour migrations in the GCC are defined as temporary, but migrants engage in various adjustments that result in long-term residence in the GCC. Included in these adjustments are various circular, serial and stepwise migration strategies. In this article, we conceptualise and explore the patterns of itinerant labour migrations to the Gulf and onwards. A variety of migrant strategies and migration trajectories are identified, together with their underlying drivers. It is argued that these transnational practices have different motivations and are submitted to various coercive forces and opportunity structures. Furthermore, they are propelled by distinctive local rationality, family obligations, individual resources and aspirations, which, in sum, produce specific patterns of itinerant labour migration.

KEYWORDS:

• Circular migration
• labour migration
• Middle East
• serial migration
• stepwise migration

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The GCC countries are the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain.

2. Parreñas et al. studied serial migration of domestic workers. They maintain that the higher-tier countries impose higher educational requirements on domestic workers than the Gulf countries. The costs of migration are composed of the fees required by recruitment agencies, as well as visa fees, health checks, deposits and other costs imposed by the authorities of the top-tier countries (Parreñas et al., 2019). Domestic workers in the Gulf are not required to pay upfront agency fees for migration to the Gulf – the costs of migration are primarily financed through salary deductions (Parreñas et al., 2019; Paul, 2011). Therefore, temporary migration to the GCC countries is affordable for large numbers of domestic workers from low-income countries who would otherwise not be able to migrate overseas (Parreñas et al., 2019).

3. We have also protected their anonymity while presenting the data. All the names used in this article are pseudonyms. We have protected anonymity of our interviewees slightly changing demographic and other information irrelevant for our discussions.

4. Naufal and Malit (2018) studied the role of abuse and unfavourable working conditions in Filipina domestic workers’ desire to return abroad again. Their study shows that abused absconded migrants were often highly itinerant, and prone to migrate again.

5. Such requirements are also stipulated by authorities in other Gulf countries.

See https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/oman/oman-reduces-salary-limit-for-family-visas-1.2101861;

See https://government.ae/en/information-and-services/visa-and-emirates-id/residence-visa/sponsoring-family-residency-visa-by-expatriates;

See also http://www.visaprocess.ae/details.php?page=family-visa-saudi-arabia; see https://kuwaitvisa.com/visa-types/

6. See https://asiatimes.com/2018/09/ban-on-hiring-filipino-domestic-workers-in-uae-to-be-lifted/; see also https://www.dw.com/en/philippines-ban-on-sending-workers-to-kuwait-creates-tension-confusion/a-42563708; see also http://apmigration.ilo.org/news/saudi-arabia-bans-domestics-after-the-philippines-imposed-conditions-for-employing-their-nationals; https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/six-gulf-countries-informed-of-indonesia-domestic-workers-ban-1.1661460

7. See for example: https://www.zawya.com/mena/en/legal/story/Kuwait_looking_for_solutions_due_to_Filipino_domestic_workers_ban-SNG_164103534/

8. See https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/what-is-the-future-of-migration-from-kerala-coronavirus-6380548/

9. See also Collins (2020)

10. Many Western Universities have their branches in the Gulf. A large share of their students has a migrant background. It is not uncommon for these students to migrate out of the region for studies or work.

11. Many sons and daughters of the middle-class migrants in the Gulf use to take University education in the home countries due to the lower cost of university education in the home countries and perceptions that the universities in the home country are better than in the Gulf.

12. See also: Paul (2011), Carlos (2013), Parreñas et al. (2019), and Kim (2019).

13. See also: Gardner (2008); Ali (2011).

14. See also: Babar and Gardner (2016); Parreñas et al. (2019).

15. Sizeable numbers of labour migrants in the GCC are from countries affected by war and political instability, such as Syria, Sudan, Afghanistan and Yemen. For more on immobility of these people see Babar et al. (2019). For more on migrations from refugee-producing countries to the GCC see Valenta and Jakobsen (2017); Valenta et al. (2020).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marko Valenta

Marko Valenta is a fulltime professor at Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Department of Social Work, in Trondheim. He is sociologist and has conducted research in the UAE, Jordan, Norway, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and several other countries in Europe and Middle East. His research interests are international migrations, ethnic relations, public policy, and work with reception and integration of immigrants and refugees.