The abuses suffered by migrant workers with closed permits, also known as “tied work visas”, cannot be solely attributable to the actions or failures of individual employers or recruitment agencies. On the contrary, across several countries, such abuses are intrinsically linked to systemic problems in temporary labour migration schemes and permanent immigration systems, as well as shortcomings in the enforcement of employment laws and regulations, that do not offer adequate protection to migrant workers in the destination country. In several destination countries, labour exploitation is rooted in serious flaws in the processes by which migrant workers are recruited, granted permission to work in a destination country and employed, which facilitate and enable exploitative practices by recruiters and employers.
