This article explores how recent policies of inclusion and exclusion in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) might be impacting South Asian diasporic communities and decision-making around immigration. We focus on the ‘Golden Visa’, which allows middle-class and elite immigrants in the UAE access to semi-permanence and a way around the entrenched kafala system of temporary migrant sponsorship. We consider how the Gulf migration regime is influenced by policymaking in South Asia just as much if not more than labour structures in the Gulf region. Gulf migration, we argue, contrary to normative narratives, might constitute an increase in rights for certain people, particularly given their experiences of diminished rights vis-à-vis their home countries. We consider how rights–rightlessness increasingly does not map neatly onto a citizen–non-citizen dichotomy and conclude that both immigrant and citizen rights are being renegotiated within new cartographies of belonging and exclusion in the UAE.
AbbasW. (2023, September12). Dubai: Over 50% increase in Golden Visas issued in first half of 2023. Khaleej Times. https://www.khaleejtimes.com/uae/dubai-over-50-increase-in-golden-visas-issued-in-first-half-of-2023
2.
AhmadA. (2017). Everyday conversions: Islam, domestic work, and South Asian migrant women in Kuwait. Duke University Press.
3.
AkinciI. (2020). Dressing the nation? Symbolizing Emirati national identity and boundaries through national dress. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 43(10), 1776–1794. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2019.1665697
4.
AkinciI. (2024). Circumstantial citizenship: UAE born Syrians and their complex journeys to long-term security. International Migration Review, 58(3), 1172–1195.
5.
AlexanderK., & MazzuccoL. J. M. (2021, April7). Breaking the citizenship taboo in the UAE. Middle East Institute. https://www.mei.edu/publications/breaking-citizenship-taboo-uae
6.
Al-HusseinM. (2021, December30). The new economic contracts of Gulf citizenship. Orient XXI. https://orientxxi.info/magazine/the-economic-contracts-of-new-gulf-citizenships,5265
7.
Al HusseinM. (2025). Reforms or deforms? The rise and decline of the rentier middle class in the UAE. Asia Pacific Migration Journal, 34(1).
8.
Al MutawaR. (2024). ‘We’re not like the newbies’: Belonging among Dubai’s long-term residents. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 50(2), 539–558.
9.
Al MutawaR. (2024). Everyday life in the spectacular city: Making home in Dubai. University of California Press.
10.
AlnuaimiH. (2022). The role of colonial knowledge in building the Arab Gulf’s migration regime. Asian Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, 16(4), 382–401. https://doi.org/10.1080/25765949.2022.2151079
11.
Al ShehabiO. H. (2021). Policing labour in empire: The modern origins of the kafala sponsorship system in the Gulf Arab states. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 48(2), 291–310. https://doi.org/10.1080/13530194.2019.1580183
12.
AndersonB. (2016). Imagined communities. Verso Books.
13.
AssafL. (2020). “Abu Dhabi is my sweet home”: Arab youth, interstitial spaces, and the building of a cosmopolitan locality. City, 24(5–6), 830–841. https://doi.org/10.1080/13604813.2020.1837562
14.
BaycarH. (2020, June4). Will COVID-19 decrease the number of Indian and Pakistani expats in the UAE?Middle East Centre Blog. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/mec/2020/06/04/will-covid-19-decrease-the-number-of-indian-and-pakistani-expats-in-the-uae/
15.
BaycarH. (2023). Promoting multiculturalism and tolerance: Expanding the meaning of “unity through diversity” in the United Arab Emirates. Digest of Middle East Studies, 32(1), 40–59. https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12282
16.
BeemanW. O. (2009). Gulf society: An anthropological view of the Khalijis—Their evolution and way of life. In LucianiM. L. (Ed.), The Persian Gulf in history (pp. 147–159). Palgrave Macmillan US.
17.
BijulalM. V. (2020). Contemporary forms of slavery, citizenship and human rights of migrant workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. In RahmanM. A. & KhanM. F. (Eds.), Asianization of migrant workers in the Gulf countries (pp. 69–82). Routledge.
18.
ChalcraftJ. (2010). Monarchy, migration and hegemony in the Arabian Peninsula (Research Paper No. 33). Kuwait Programme on Development, Governance and Globalization in the Gulf States.
19.
ChandaR., & GuptaP. (2018). Indian migration to the Gulf: Overview of trends and policy initiatives by India. Indian Journal of Labour Economics, 61(2), 263–286.
20.
ET Online. (2024, May2027). Rajnikanth to Shah Rukh Khan: Indians who have UAE’s Golden Visa. The Economic Times. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/latest-updates/rajinikanth-to-shah-rukh-khan-indians-who-have-uaes-golden-visa/dulquer-salmaan/slideshow/110461272.cms
21.
EwersM., DiopA., DumaN., & LeK. (2023). Beyond vulnerability: Contextualizing migrant worker views on rights and wellbeing in the Gulf Arab states. Comparative Migration Studies, 11(1), 20. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-023-00344-1
22.
GMI Research Team. (2024, December2). United Arab Emirates (UAE) Population Statistics 2024. https://www.globalmediainsight.com/blog/uae-population-statistics/
23.
HaniehA. (2015). Capital, labor, and state: Rethinking the political economy of oil in the Gulf. In GhazalA. & HanssenJ. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of contemporary Middle Eastern and North African history (pp. 322–341). Oxford University Press.
24.
HerbM. (2016). All in the family: Absolutism, revolution, and democracy in Middle Eastern monarchies. State University of New York Press.
25.
HoE. (2006). The graves of Tarim: Genealogy and mobility across the Indian Ocean. University of California Press.
26.
HopperM. S. (2015). Slaves of one master: Globalization and slavery in Arabia in the age of empire. Yale University Press.
27.
IIFL Capital. (2024, October18). Can non-resident Indians (NRIs) cast their vote in India?India Infoline. https://www.indiainfoline.com/knowledge-center/share-market/can-non-resident-indians-nris-cast-their-vote-in-india
28.
JamalM. A. (2015). The “tiering” of citizenship and residency and the “hierarchization” of migrant communities: The United Arab Emirates in historical context. International Migration Review, 49(3), 601–632. https://doi.org/10.1111/imre.12132
29.
JohnsonM. (1998). At home and abroad: Inalienable wealth, personal consumption, and formulations of femininity in the Southern Philippines. In MillerD. (Ed.), Material cultures: Why some things matter (pp. 215–238). University of London Press.
30.
KhalafS. (2000). Poetics and politics of newly invented traditions in the Gulf: Camel racing in the United Arab Emirates. Ethnology, 39(3), 243–261. https://doi.org/10.2307/3773704
31.
KhaliliL. (2020). Sinews of war and trade. Verso.
32.
KochN. (2015). Gulf nationalism and the geopolitics of constructing falconry as a ‘heritage sport’. Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, 15(3), 522–539. https://doi.org/10.1111/sena.12160
33.
KochN. (2016). Is nationalism just for nationals? Civic nationalism for noncitizens and celebrating national day in Qatar and the UAE. Political Geography, 54, 43–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2015.09.006
34.
Le RenardA. (2021). Western privilege: Work, intimacy and postcolonial hierarchies in Dubai. Stanford University Press.
35.
LoweL. (2015). The intimacies of four continents. Duke University Press.
36.
Malit JrF. T. (2025). A liberalizing turn? Cooptation, legitimation, and the co-production of migration policymaking with international organizations in autocratic regimes in the gulf. Journal on the Rule of Law, Forthcoming.
37.
MathewJ. (2016). Margins of the market: Trafficking and capitalism across the Arabian Sea. University of California Press.
38.
MeraniM. (2024, January19). UAE diversity law causing visa issues for businesses. Arabian Gulf Business Insight. https://www.agbi.com/employment/2024/01/uae-diversity-law-causing-visa-issues-for-businesses/
39.
MongiaR. (1999). Race, nationality, mobility: A history of the passport. Public Culture, 11(3), 527–556. https://doi.org/10.1215/08992363-11-3-527
40.
NazirI. A. (2024). Teaching national identity to non-nationals: Indian curriculum schools in the UAE (Policy Paper No. 73). Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research.
41.
O’ConnorP. (2021). From centered to distributed belonging: A study of “homing” among citizens and residents in the United Arab Emirates. Mobilities, 16(4), 612–627. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2021.1916986
42.
ReberL. (2024). ‘Nationality is a big barrier for us’: Ethnonational hierarchies among affluent and low-wage migrants in Dubai. In TsudaT. (Ed.), Handbook of migration, ethnicity and diversity (pp. 95–108). Edward Elgar Publishing.
43.
RensimerL. (2021). Negotiating educational choices in uncertain transnational space: South Asian diaspora in the United Arab Emirates. British Journal of Educational Studies, 69(5), 599–620. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2021.1935711
44.
SiddiquiM. A., NadeemM., & VoraN. (2024, July11). Deconstructing dichotomies: Explaining contemporary South Asian emigration to the UAE beyond economics [Workshop paper]. Gulf Research Meeting, Cambridge, UK.
45.
Staff Writer. (2023, June2). Golden Visa reforms are boosting Dubai’s Indian population: Report. Construction Week: Middle East. https://www.constructionweekonline.com/business/golden-visa-reforms-are-boosting-dubais-indian-population-report
46.
ThiolletH. (2019). Immigrants, markets, brokers, and states: The politics of illiberal migration governance in the Arab Gulf [Working Papers, No. 155]. International Migration Institute. https://sciencespo.hal.science/hal-02362910v2
47.
ThiolletH. (2022). Illiberal migration governance in the Arab Gulf. In BexS. L. (Ed.), Understanding global migration (pp. 50–80). Routledge.
48.
VitalisR. (2007). America’s kingdom: Mythmaking on the Saudi oil frontier. Stanford University Press.
49.
VoraN. (2013). Impossible citizens: Dubai’s Indian diaspora. Duke University Press.
50.
VoraN. (2018). Teach for Arabia: American universities, liberalism, and transnational Qatar. Stanford University Press.
51.
VoraN. (2020, July16). Pandemic security and insecurity in the Gulf. The Immanent Frame. https://tif.ssrc.org/2020/07/16/pandemic-security-and-insecurity-in-the-gulf/
52.
VoraN., & KochN. (2015). Everyday inclusions: Rethinking ethnocracy, kafala, and belonging in the Arabian Peninsula. Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, 15(3), 540–552. https://doi.org/10.1111/sena.12158
53.
VoraN., & Le RenardA. (2021). Who is “Indian” in the Gulf? Race, labor, and citizenship. Middle East Research and Information, Project (MERIP), 299. https://merip.org/2021/08/who-is-indian-in-the-gulf-race-labor-and-citizenship-299/
54.
WAM. (2024, August11). Over 10,000 attend ‘Emirates loves Pakistan’ celebration marking 77 years of Pakistan’s independence. https://www.wam.ae/en/article/b4mcv3i-over-10000-attend-emirates-loves-pakistan
55.
WaqasA. (2022, December12). Country’s brain drain situation accelerated in 2022. The Express Tribune. https://tribune.com.pk/story/2390704/countrys-brain-drain-situation-accelerated-in-2022
56.
Web Desk. (2024, March30). How Indian expats in the UAE can register to vote in elections. Khaleej Times. https://www.khaleejtimes.com/uae/how-indian-expats-in-uae-can-register-to-vote-in-elections
57.
WickramasekaraP. (2011). Labour migration in South Asia: A review of issues, policies, and practices (International Migration Working Paper No. 108). International Labour Organization.
58.
WrightA. (2020, April). No good options for migrant workers in Gulf COVID-19 lockdown. Middle East Report Online. https://merip.org/2020/04/no-good-options-for-migrant-workers-in-gulf-covid-19-lockdown/
59.
WrightA. (2021). From slaves to contract workers: Genealogies of consent and security in Indian labor migration. Journal of World History, 32(1), 29–43. https://doi.org/10.1353/jwh.2021.0002
60.
WrightA. (2024). Unruly labor: A history of oil in the Arabian Sea. Stanford University Press.
61.
ZainA. A. (2022, November22). Pak govt urged to allow maid to work abroad. Khaleej Times. https://www.khaleejtimes.com/uae/pak-govt-urged-to-allow-maids-to-work-abroad
62.
ZhengJ. (2024, March17). Remote work visa in Dubai: Ease of getting residency attracts digital nomads. Khaleej Times. https://www.khaleejtimes.com/life-and-living/visa-and-immigration-in-uae/remote-work-visa-in-dubai-ease-of-getting-residency-attracts-digital-nomads
