Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Babar, Zahra
• Ennis, Crystal A.
• Blarel, Nicolas

Titel

Two Bad Places at Once: Pakistani Labour Migrants and the Transnational Recruitment Industry to the Gulf

Ist Teil von

• The South Asia to Gulf Migration Governance Complex, 2022, p.103-124

Ort / Verlag

Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press

Erscheinungsjahr

2022

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• With an increasing number of Pakistani workers seeking work in the monarchies of the Persian Gulf, there is a need to expand our understanding of how these workers navigate the frequently challenging migration process. Limited access to accurate information about migration opportunities and complex and over-bureaucratic visa application processes means that for many Pakistanis the only way to reach the Gulf is through the assistance of the transnational, profit-oriented, labour recruitment industry. Given limited state regulatory capacity over recruitment agencies, many Pakistani migrants arrive to their jobs in the Gulf under duplicitous contractual conditions and carrying excessive amounts of debt. This chapter, based on fieldwork carried out in Pakistan, draws on migrants' own experiences with labour recruiters, as well as their experiences of living and working in the Gulf, to evaluate the processes and practices of migration governance across this corridor. This research shows not only the value of focusing on a subnational component (Pathan migrants) to better interrogate governance processes, but also demonstrates how 'slips' into irregularity stem from state-level negligence and insufficient regulatory control over recruitment processes in sending and receiving countries. This research suggests that migration experiences and outcomes are shaped by existing structures of labour migration governance in the Gulf and the profit-generating recruitment industry that provides much-desired access to the Gulf labour markets.