[W]orkers often operate in a gray zone between home and host country protections that leave them vulnerable to exploitation, especially in the recruitment process. Some recruitment agencies charge workers exorbitant fees - in some cases an amount equal to a year's salary - to place them in construction jobs abroad...[The study] finds that construction companies operating in the Arabian Gulf are able to recruit millions of low- wage migrant workers without incurring the costs of the recruitment process. Instead...most workers themselves are paying for their own recruitment – and much more.