Guest Worker Cap

Bahrain is now moving to curb the amount of its foreign labor:

"Bahrain has decided to put a residency cap on expatriates and fix an annual ceiling on number of foreign workers entering Bahrain, according to a senior labour official here.

"Labour Minister Dr Majeed bin Mohsen Al Alawi has told Arabic daily Al Wasat that a cap of maximum five years for working expatriates will be effective from 2010 to promote local workforce. He said an annual ceiling on the number of expatriates will also be fixed."

This move is clearly directed at promoting nationalization of the workforce, and suggests that the khalaf system reform probably was, as well.