What Is the Kafala System and Why Pakistanis Suffer Under It

The Gulf sponsorship system, in plain English, and what it does to 3.5+ million Pakistani workers

The kafala system is the sponsorship-based labour system used in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and other Gulf states. Around 2.6+ million Pakistanis in Saudi Arabia and 950,000+ in the UAE work under it.

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the UN Special Rapporteur have all called kafala a modern form of slavery. This piece sits inside the Human Cost of Pakistan's Brain Drain cluster, under the broader Pakistan Brain Drain: The Graveyard of Remittancers pillar.

What kafala actually means in practice

Kafala is Arabic for "sponsorship." On paper it sounds administrative , an employer sponsors a foreign worker for a visa. In practice the system has six features that create the conditions human rights organisations call slavery-like.

1. Single-employer residency. The worker's legal residency is tied to one specific employer. Lose the employer, lose the legal right to be in the country.
2. No job changes without permission. The worker cannot move to a different employer without the original sponsor's written consent (the "No-Objection Certificate" or NOC).
3. Restricted exit. In many Gulf states, the worker historically could not leave the country without employer permission. Reforms have eased this on paper in some states; enforcement varies.
4. Passport confiscation. The employer often confiscates the passport upon arrival. This is illegal under most Gulf labour codes but widespread in practice.
5. Wage and condition discretion. Wages, hours, housing, and working conditions are largely at the employer's discretion. Workers cannot strike. Most cannot form unions.
6. No recourse without sponsor. Filing a complaint usually requires the sponsor's involvement, which makes complaining about the sponsor functionally impossible.

Activists, the UN Special Rapporteur, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International have all called the kafala system a modern form of slavery. The Pakistani worker who sends home the remittance the government celebrates is, in many cases, legally trapped while doing it.

How many Pakistanis live under kafala?

• Saudi Arabia: ~2.64 million Pakistani workers
• United Arab Emirates: ~950,000+ Pakistani workers
• Other Gulf states (Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain): ~1.5 million combined

Together, the Gulf region absorbs approximately 96 percent of all Pakistani registered migrant workers. The vast majority work under some form of kafala.

What kafala produces, in documented numbers

The 53 categories of exploitation Pakistani workers face abroad , most of them flow directly from kafala's structure. A short list of the worst:

• Predatory recruitment fees of 2 to 6 months of wages, paid before the worker even arrives
• False contract substitution , Arabic contracts replaced on arrival with worse terms
• Wage theft and delayed payments, often 1 to 6 months
• 12 to 16 hour workdays
• Heat stroke deaths in 50°C summers (~25,000 Pakistani bodies repatriated per year)
• Cramped labour camps with shared toilets
• Withheld medical care for workplace injuries
• Documented sexual harassment of female domestic workers
• Verbal and physical abuse
• Racism using "Bengali," "Hindi," and "Pakistani" as slurs
• Up to 40 percent of Gulf workers without health insurance
• No pension contributions, no retirement protection

I have written the longer breakdown of all 53 issues in the cluster post The Human Cost of Pakistan's Brain Drain.

What the deaths actually look like

Between 2010 and 2020, more than 6,500 migrant workers from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka died in Qatar alone, according to a Guardian investigation in 2021. Most were classified as "natural causes" or "cardiac arrest" , language that frequently masks heat stroke from working without water breaks in 50°C summers.

Pakistan repatriates around 25,000 bodies a year from the Gulf alone. I have written the longer explainer at How Many Pakistani Bodies Are Repatriated From Saudi Arabia Each Year.

Reforms on paper, reality on the ground

Saudi Arabia announced kafala reforms in 2021, allowing workers to change jobs and exit the country without employer consent in some categories. The UAE and Qatar have announced similar reforms. On paper, kafala is being dismantled.

In practice, enforcement is weak. Passport confiscation continues. NOC requirements continue. Wage theft continues. The structural power imbalance , employer holds residency rights, worker cannot easily leave , persists.

The Pace International Law Review documented in 2026 that despite reform announcements, "kafala continues to enable systemic labour abuses across the GCC region." The Council on Foreign Relations and Lawfare reached the same conclusion in a 2023 analysis.

Why Pakistan does not fight harder

The Pakistani state has not pushed Gulf governments hard on kafala reform for the same reason it has not pushed for wage parity with Indian workers: leverage. If Saudi Arabia mistreats a Pakistani worker, Pakistan needs Saudi loans more than Saudi needs Pakistani complaints.

I have written the longer argument at Why Pakistani Workers Earn Less Than Indians in the Gulf.

In closing

Kafala is not an abstract policy. It is the legal architecture that sits underneath every remittance dollar Pakistan celebrates. The system extracts maximum labour, minimises employer obligation, and externalises the cost (death, injury, family separation, repatriation) onto the worker's home country.

Pakistan has not fought for its workers. The reform pressure that exists comes mostly from Indian, Filipino, Bangladeshi, and international human-rights advocacy. The Pakistani state writes press releases.

The worker pays the bill. Every month. Every year. In some cases, with his life.

, Asad Baig

Frequently asked questions

What is the kafala system? The kafala system is the sponsorship-based labour system used in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and other Gulf states. It ties the foreign worker's legal residency to a single employer (the kafeel) and gives the employer significant control over the worker's mobility, wages, and conditions.

Why is kafala called modern slavery? The UN Special Rapporteur, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International have all used the term. The reasons: residency is tied to a single employer, passports are routinely confiscated, workers cannot change jobs without employer consent, exit permits have historically been required, and the power imbalance creates conditions of forced labour.

How many Pakistanis live under kafala? Approximately 2.6 million Pakistanis in Saudi Arabia, 950,000+ in the UAE, and 1.5 million across Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, and Bahrain combined , about 5+ million Pakistani workers in total under some form of kafala-based system.

Have Gulf states reformed kafala? Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar have announced reforms allowing job changes and exits without employer consent in some categories. Enforcement is weak. The Pace International Law Review and Council on Foreign Relations have documented that systemic abuses persist.

Why does Pakistan not push harder for reform? Because Pakistan needs Gulf loans, energy supply, and remittance flows more than Gulf states need Pakistan to be a satisfied labour-source country. The geopolitical asymmetry translates directly into worker treatment. Indian, Filipino, and Bangladeshi advocacy has been more effective.

Sources and notes

• Pace International Law Review , "Labor, Migration, and Power: The Kafala System Explained," 2026
• International Policy Review , "The Kafala System: From Domestic Labor to Diplomatic Dilemmas," 2025
• Council on Foreign Relations / Lawfare , "The Kafala System Is Facilitating Labor Abuses," 2023
• Human Rights Watch , Pakistan Migration reports; UAE Labour Rights Report 2024
• Amnesty International , Migrant worker abuse documentation
• The Guardian , "Revealed: 6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar since World Cup awarded," 2021
• ILO Pakistan , Travel Smart Work Smart guides for Saudi Arabia and UAE, 2015

Related reading

Pillar: Pakistan Brain Drain: The Graveyard of Remittancers Parent cluster: The Human Cost of Pakistan's Brain Drain

Sibling spokes:

• How Many Pakistani Bodies Are Repatriated From Saudi Arabia Each Year
• Why 80% of Pakistani Doctors Leave Within Five Years of Graduation

Other pillars:

• Why Pakistan's Remittance Economy Is a Development Trap
• Why Pakistani Workers Earn Less Than Indians in the Gulf
• The Real Brain Gain Plan

Thank you for reading.

, Asad Baig