By Frank Gardner in Dubai
The United Arab Emirates' freeze on manual labourers from India and Pakistan that was introduced in August is benefiting another South Asian country - Nepal.
Hundreds of Nepalese workers have recently been flocking to the UAE as well as other Gulf states.
In the transient world of the Gulf labour market, the Nepalese are newcomers.
Their Himalayan country is all but unknown to their employers and their number is estimated at only just over 100,000 throughout the region.
Reputation for hard work
Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans and Bangladeshis on the other hand make up nearly 10m workers around the Gulf.
But already the Nepalese are acquiring an enviable reputation.
A recruitment agent in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi, was quoted in the local paper, Gulf News, as saying companies prefer to take Nepalese because they are honest and hard-working.
Gurkha security guards from Nepal already screen visitors to the US consulate in Dubai and at government establishments.
Freeze on Indians and Pakistanis
But the recent freeze on imported manual labour from India and Pakistan is prompting employers to bring in Nepalese for a wide range of jobs.
As well as construction, they are working in all six Gulf Arab states as cooks, waiters and maids.
They do however face one major problem.
Although Nepal has an embassy in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, the country has no such embassy in most other Gulf states.
According to social workers in Kuwait, this leaves Nepalese at a disadvantage when it comes to labour disputes.
Nepalese workers there have told the BBC they have no one to turn to if their employers decide to cut their wages or withhold them altogether.
Nepalese maids, who are frequently smuggled across the border from Nepal to India, are perhaps the most at risk of exploitation.
Many leave Nepal with the promise of a well-paid job in the Gulf, only to end up as prostitutes in Indian cities or in the Gulf states themselves.
Country profiles
Nepalese workers suffer in Kuwait
(14 Jul 99 | Middle East)
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