Kuwait implemented the Kafala (sponsorship) system around the 1950s, initially implemented to control migration into Arab countries. Under the system, states are usually supposed to provide employers with enough funding, visas, and residency to allow the workers to be employed. Although Kuwait has made promises to reform its labor system, the Kafala framework still places migrant workers under the control of their employers.

In 2020, Kuwait introduced limited reforms allowing some migrant workers to transfer employers after completing their contracts, without the current employer’s consent. Nonetheless, domestic workers were excluded, and employers still can file ‘absconding’ charges against those who leave without consent.

However, many migrant workers continue to face mistreatment, restricted freedom, unsafe working conditions, and wage theft. Even with new labour laws, this dependency prevents workers from seeking justice and their basic human rights. These persistent abuses show that Kuwait’s reforms have failed to translate into meaningful change, leaving migrant workers trapped in conditions that amount to modern-day slavery.

These structural barriers ensure that, despite reforms, migrant workers in Kuwait continue to endure unfair and abusive treatment. Workers’ dependency on employers leads to forced labour and prevents them from changing jobs or leaving the country. Common abuses include confiscation of passports, delayed or withheld wages, excessive working hours, and physical or verbal abuse.

For example, several migrants have reported having their passports confiscated, held of salaries forcing them to work under threat of deportation. The confiscation of the passport prevents workers’ mobility, freedom and  from legal status, in a system where employers exercise significant control over workers’ lives.  On October  4, 2025, an Indian worker, Suraj Lama, was deported to Kochi and suddenly disappeared, highlighting the risks faced by workers attempting to challenge abusive conditions (Human Rights Watch, 2025). Additionally, the Human Rights Watch report documented cases where domestic workers in Kuwait were confined to their employers homes, denied wages, and subjected to verbal and physical abuse, underlining the failures of the Kafala system.

As a result, psychological distress, widespread insecurity among workers, and denial of access to justice. These daily realities illustrate how Kuwait’s Kafala system continues to perpetuate exploitation and abuse even after legal reforms were introduced.

Despite recent Kuwait’s labour reforms representing an acknowledgement of the problem, they fail to challenge the deeper structural issues that enable exploitation. As long as a worker’s legal status depends on their employers, migrant workers will continue to face violations of their basic human rights.

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