Challenges Faced by Expatriate Workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries

Over the last six decades, the reliance of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries’ economy on expatriate workforce has increased incessantly. The majority of the private sector workforce in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are expatriates. Recent attempts by governments in the GCC countries to localise the workforce, through their workforce nationalisation programmes, have offered limited results. Thus, dependence on expatriate workforce will continue in the near future and GCC countries, short of professionally and technically qualified local workers will need to employ a large number of expatriates to support their economic and social development plans. This calls for a systematic approach to understand the specific challenges faced by expatriates of different nationalities in the GCC countries, so that these challenges can be addressed to enable the GCC countries to become a preferred destination for technically and professionally qualified expatriate workers. This paper presents an overview of the GCC countries; the reasons for their dependence on expatriate workforce; key current challenges faced by expatriates in the GCC countries and suggestions for facilitating adjustment of expatriate workers in the GCC countries.