This paper addresses a neglected area in studies of migrant labor in the Gulf States showing that exploitation of migrant workers occurs before deployment. Evidence from interviews conducted in the five major labour sending countries to Qatar (Philippines, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and India) suggests that the recruitment procedures and corrupt practices by recruitment agencies and employing company personnel in the receiving country place unskilled workers in a highly vulnerable position prior to departure from their home countries. As a consequence of practices such as deception, false promises, substitute contracts, bribery, and extortion, there is evidence of debt bondage, forced labor, and trafficking within the normative framework of labor migration. Reform measures that are currently underway in Qatar include the banning of workers paying recruitment fees and charges to agents.
