Paper short abstract:

By explaining the imaginaries behind Ethiopian domestic workers circumventing the kafala in the UAE, this study sheds light on the ruins of structural migration within transnational migration, in which migrants risk being undocumented for better economic opportunities and access to social mobility.

Paper long abstract:

The Gulf Council Countries (GCCs) employ a legal and interinstitutional framework for migrant workers to enter, work, and return. This framework is called Kafala, a sponsorship-based oversea labour recruitment system that ties foreign workers with nationals. Ethiopian domestic workers enter the UAE within this framework yet circumvent the Kafala and escape to join the illegal labour market, which has proved to be a popular destination despite the associated risks. The imaginaries that lead to circumventing the kafala are the product of complex imaginaries. On the other hand, the material and digital remains of those who have already circumvented the kafala are the ruins in which those imaginaries are inspired or challenged. This study examines how the lives of Ethiopian domestic workers in the illegal labour and housing markets disrupt, support, and ultimately redefine the imaginaries that motivate others to take the risk of circumventing the kafala. This study is based on netnography and extensive ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the UAE among Ethiopian runaway domestic workers and in Ethiopia among re-migrating returnees. The findings show how lived experiences (or "ruins") challenge and inspire imaginaries, prompting many to flee or not to flee the Kafala. The ruins of these aspirations to circumvent the kafala support the underlying argument that imaginaries often shift due to actual lived experiences yet remain highly resilient and powerfully active in motivating migrant domestic workers to take the risk of leaving their legal status.