Every year, millions of people enter rich countries on temporary work visas in the hope of earning a living and supporting their families. For many people, those visas undoubtedly offer the opportunity to earn more money and build a more stable life. But for others, they become another source of insecurity and abuse.
Consider the case of Larissa.
While browsing Facebook, she came across an ad promising domestic work, good pay and travel expenses in Germany. A mother of three from a remote village in Moldova, she left her children behind to pursue that opportunity and lift her family out of poverty.
But when she arrived, the reality was very different. She was taken to a remote town, placed with other women and stripped of control over her documents. For a year, she says, she was forced to clean houses and care for the elderly for up to 20 hours a day, without pay and under constant surveillance.
The International Organization for Migration later identified her case as an example of trafficking through a legitimate recruitment process. His passport was confiscated and he was not allowed to go out.
Larissa’s story is not unique. Around the world, migrants are trapped in abusive working conditions not only by criminal networks, but also by legal migration systems that leave workers dependent on a single employer.
Why are legal immigrants unsafe?
Human trafficking is often linked to smuggling, border crossing or organized crime. But it can also affect legal immigrants, often in less visible ways. This may include debt bondage, confiscation of passports, restrictions on movement, withheld wages, threats of deportation, and forced working conditions.
Migrants are particularly vulnerable because they often arrive in a new country with limited resources, little knowledge of the local culture or language, and no support network. Undocumented immigrants are easy targets because they fear deportation and may avoid seeking help. But even legal immigrants can find themselves stranded.
Many temporary work visa programs tie workers to a single employer. If they leave that employer, they may lose not only their job but also their legal status. Contracts are often long, vague, or written in language that employees cannot understand. Complaints may be met with threats, intimidation, or warnings that speaking out will result in deportation.
When legal systems enable abuse
In some cases, smugglers do not need to transport people across borders or create forged documents. Weaknesses in legal migration systems make exploitation too easy.
Investigations into labor recruitment and labor leasing schemes in sectors such as agriculture, care work and construction have revealed how migrants are promised legal jobs abroad in exchange for large sums of money, but end up being underpaid, threatened or trapped in unsafe conditions.
One of the most vulnerable areas is the temporary visa program. For example, in the United States, investigations of the H-2A visa system, which is used to bring seasonal agricultural workers into the country, have documented wage theft, unsafe housing, withheld passports, restrictions on movement, and dangerous heat exposure among seasonal migrant workers.
A Polaris analysis of labor trafficking cases reported to the US National Human Trafficking Hotline from 2018 to 2020 found that 72 percent of victims whose visa status was known held an H-2A, H-2B, J-1 or A-3/G-5 visa. These temporary visa categories are commonly used for agriculture, seasonal labor, exchange programs, and domestic work.
The same Polaris research found that nearly half of labor trafficking victims whose immigration status was known were legally present in the United States on a temporary visa.
These problems are not limited to one country or one visa system. Labor rights groups and international organizations have documented similar abuses in Europe, the Gulf and other regions that rely heavily on temporary migrant labour.
Loans, recruitment fees and passport confiscation
Debt is another way employees can get stuck.
Many expatriates pay large sums of money to recruitment agents to get jobs abroad. Families often borrow money, sell assets or take out loans with the belief that a job will eventually provide stability.
But once employees arrive, the promised salary may be less than expected, or the job may not exist at all. In some cases, workers are told they must pay increased recruitment fees before they can leave or change jobs.
Similar patterns have been documented in Gulf countries, including Qatar, where rights groups have reported illegal recruitment fees, debt bondage, withheld wages, and confiscation of passports. Many employees are already in debt after paying huge amounts of money to recruiters. Others remain dependent on employers for their legal status and ability to change jobs, making it difficult to leave abusive situations.
what needs to change
Governments cannot claim to support legal migration while ignoring the ways legal migration systems are abused.
Strict monitoring of recruitment agencies is necessary. Agencies that charge illegal fees, make false promises or collaborate with abusive employers should face criminal penalties.
Workers should not be tied to a single employer. The visa system should allow migrants to change jobs without immediately losing their legal status.
Governments should also ban recruitment fees charged to workers, strengthen labor inspections, and create multilingual complaint systems so migrants can safely report abuses.
Whistleblowers should be protected. Migrants who report exploitation should not face detention or deportation, regardless of their immigration status.
Finally, governments should consider passport confiscation a serious crime and provide legal aid and emergency housing for workers trying to escape abusive employers.
Larissa eventually made it a home for her children. But many others do not.
As long as migrants remain tied to employers, burdened with debt, and fearful of deportation, abuses will continue within the systems that are supposed to protect them.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of Al Jazeera.
