Many legal migrants still at risk of human trafficking in country

Temporary Work Visa Systems Leave Migrants Vulnerable

A significant number of people from Europe, the Gulf region, and the US enter wealthy countries on temporary work visas each year. The intention is often to earn a living and support their families. However, for some individuals, these visas can become a source of vulnerability and exploitation.

Larisa, a mother of three from Moldova, left her children behind in search of domestic work in Germany. She was promised a good salary and paid travel expenses. Instead, she found herself in a remote town, forced to clean homes and care for elderly people without pay or control over her documents. Her passport was confiscated, and she was not allowed to leave.

Similar cases have been identified by the International Organization for Migration as examples of trafficking through legitimate recruitment processes. Migrants are often trapped in abusive working conditions due to debt bondage, confiscation of passports, restrictions on movement, withheld wages, threats of deportation, and coercive working conditions.

Migrants are particularly vulnerable due to their limited resources, lack of knowledge about the local culture or language, and absence of a support network. Undocumented migrants may avoid seeking help due to fear of deportation. However, legal migrants can also find themselves trapped by contracts that are unclear or written in a language they do not understand.

Many temporary work visa programmes tie workers to a single employer, leaving them vulnerable if they leave their job. Investigations have shown how labour recruitment and leasing schemes exploit migrants, often through promises of legitimate jobs abroad for large sums of money.

In the US, investigations into the H-2A visa system have documented wage theft, unsafe housing, withheld passports, restrictions on movement, and heat exposure among seasonal migrant workers. A Polaris analysis found that nearly half of labour trafficking victims whose immigration status was known were legally present in the US on temporary visas.

These problems are not limited to one country or visa system. Labour rights groups and international organizations have identified weaknesses in legal migration systems that leave workers dependent on a single employer, making exploitation easier.

Source: Al Jazeera