"Open doors but different laws", 10 Sep 2016.

[W]ages are much higher in the GCC than at home. Unpublished research ...compares migrants who moved to the UAE with those who had their contracts cancelled at the last minute because of the property-price crash in 2008. Those who moved earned 250-350% more...Having a household member working in the UAE made Indian households around 30 percentage points more likely to own a family business.

The kafala system...[allows] Gulf citizens [to] tolerate ultra-high levels of immigration...because it grants migrants so few rights...Bahrain and the UAE have scrapped exit visas and allowed migrants to switch jobs. The Saudis are trying to crack down on exploitative middle men. Human Rights Watch, a watchdog, urges construction firms to treat workers better than the law requires. But the basic deal that Gulf states offer to migrants—you can work, but you will never be one of us—remains unchanged.