"Reforming visa sponsorship systems for migrant workers can benefit destination countries in the Middle East", 8 May 2017

A new ILO report demonstrates that reforming migrant worker visa-sponsorship schemes in the Middle East can benefit the economies of receiving countries as well as the migrant workers themselves. Current sponsorship regimes in the Middle East have been criticized for creating an asymmetrical power relationship between employers and migrant workers – which can make workers...vulnerable to forced labour....The new report, titled “Employer-Migrant Worker Relationships in the Middle East: Exploring scope for internal labour market mobility and fair migration” demonstrates that reform to the current sponsorship arrangements that govern temporary labour migration in the Middle East will have wide-ranging benefits – from improving working conditions and better meeting the needs of employers, to boosting the economy and labour market productivity.