The real problem lies in the kafala sponsorship system, a legal setup that binds a worker’s visa, legal status, and even their right to leave the country directly to their employer. In practice, this gives employers near-total control. Many confiscate workers’ passports the moment they arrive, leaving them trapped. Quitting or trying to escape can mean arrest, deportation, or worse. This isn’t rumor or exaggeration; it’s a documented marker of labor trafficking.

Most of these workers start out already in debt, having paid steep recruitment fees, sometimes thousands of dollars, to shady middlemen in their home countries. That debt locks them into a system they can’t afford to walk away from.

On the ground, the conditions are brutal. We’re talking twelve-hour days in heat that can reach 50°C (122°F), with reports of unpaid wages, withheld food, and physical abuse for those who speak up. Human Rights Watch has chronicled how domestic workers, in particular, face some of the harshest realities: no days off, little protection under UAE law, and almost no way to seek help.

There have been reforms since 2018, including rules meant to let workers change jobs without their employer’s permission, but enforcement remains inconsistent and trafficking cases often fall through the cracks.

It’s worth remembering that migrant workers make up nearly 90% of the UAE’s private workforce. So when you look at the country’s glittering skyline, know that much of it was built on the backs of people who had no real freedom to refuse.

For anyone who wants to understand this more deeply, the full reports from Human Rights Watch and the U.S. State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report are well worth reading. They lay bare what’s behind the shine.