News
Marked surge in visit-visa human trafficking to Oman, UAE
View(s):By Namini Wijedasa
“Visit visa trafficking or smuggling” of Sri Lankans to West Asia has exploded in numbers, with around 95 percent of aspiring women migrant workers now travelling under that visa category to Oman alone.
The Sri Lankan Embassy in Muscat, the Omani capital, is among the missions that have urgently flagged the issue with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). There has been a marked surge in this practice since the economic crisis.
The mission warns that it’s proving increasingly difficult to determine the accurate number of undocumented female and male workers who are brought in on tourist and visit visas.
The Embassy in Muscat has also pointed to a recent trend of trafficking or smuggling male workers on visit visas by charging massive fees, then abandoning them. Meanwhile, “unscrupulous agencies” are choosing the visit or tourist visa route for female Sri Lankan workers as it was relatively hassle-free for them (agencies).
This procedure allows for Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) registration to be bypassed. But the workers quickly become “a consular issue” for the MFA once they fall into trouble.
Of the 49 people who were at the Sri Lankan Embassy’s safe house in Oman in September, 33 had entered on visit visas. And a majority of “stranded cases” reported daily to the mission confess to similar circumstances.
As a result, job orders processed through the labour sections of Sri Lanka’s embassies in West Asia have dropped significantly. This also leads to a loss in government revenue, the missions say. They have notified the MFA that many female domestic workers, including minors, are flown into these destinations on visit visas with the involvement of Sri Lankan agents.
Labour sections in missions are largely occupied by SLBFE employees who maintain they have no purview over undocumented workers. They do, however, run safe houses, the expenditure for which is skyrocketing. Occupants of these facilities include those who have fallen out with their sponsors and run away. Some of those who do not seek refuge end up in brothels, the MFA has been told.
Embassies are receiving more and more complaints related to visit-visa trafficking, including requests for repatriation. Redressing these grievances is a challenge as there is no sponsor, agency or person that holds responsibility for these undocumented workers. It was also difficult to find their whereabouts as there are no contact details for sponsors or agencies.
There is a difference between “smuggling” and “trafficking”, a diplomatic source said, on condition of anonymity. “In the case of the UAE and Oman, most female domestic workers know where they are going and what they are doing,” he explained. “So, I feel they are smuggled.”
“Trafficking happens when they don’t know the end result of their journey,” he said. “They could end up in brothels. Some smuggled women later become traffickers when they change their country and the job they intended to get.”
Oman relaxed its visa requirements in December 2020. For job-seekers, therefore, it is convenient to choose the visit visa route as they do not have to pay the Rs 17,500 SLBFE registration fee.
“Other workers enter the UAE on visit visa,” the diplomat said. “If they find there is no employment, they are scouted by job agents from Oman who convert their tourist visa to a work visa and take them to Oman. Since these women have no other means of finding a job, they agree.”
While this procedure is legal, it means these workers are not registered with the SLBFE and do not report to the respective Sri Lankan embassies, either. “If something happens, the Bureau says they are not registered and that therefore they are not responsible for them,” the diplomat pointed out.
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