Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Pete Pattisson and Pramod Acharya in Kathmandu and Muhammad Owasim Uddin Bhuyan in Dhaka

Revealed: migrant workers in Qatar forced to pay billions in recruitment fees

Nepalese men say goodbye to friends and family outside Kathmandu’s international airport before heading to jobs in the Gulf.
Nepalese men say goodbye to friends and family outside Kathmandu’s international airport before heading to jobs in the Gulf. Photograph: Pete Pattisson

Low-wage migrant workers have been forced to pay billions of dollars in recruitment fees to secure their jobs in World Cup host nation Qatar over the past decade, a Guardian investigation has found.

Bangladeshi men migrating to Qatar are likely to have paid about $1.5bn (£1.14bn) in fees, and possibly as high as $2bn, between 2011 and 2020. Nepali men are estimated to have paid around $320m, and possibly more than $400m, in the four years between mid-2015 to mid-2019.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.