DESK REVIEW ON POPULATIONS AT RISK OF STATELESSNESS Development launched a Labor Reform Initiative (LRI) on 4 November 2020 which will apply to millions of foreign workers, including OFWs, in the private sector. The LRI will replace the current kafala system and ease job mobility on 14 March 2021. The Initiative will allow employees to leave their job without the consent of the employer upon the expiry of their employment contracts, and allow the employees to leave their jobs prior to the expiry of the employment contract provided that the worker has been in country for at least one year and has given 90 days notice to the employer. Under the LRI, employees may now request exit and re-entry visas directly to the Saudi Government through its online platform. Exit visas may be denied if there are outstanding debts or fines. The employer’s consent for exit visas are no longer required. While a foreign resident is present in the country, they hold an ID card, or an iqama. The iqama must be carried at all times and is needed for most things, such as opening a bank account, getting mobile services, renting an apartment, registering for utilities, and accessing medical care, etc. While there are options for filing complaints against the employer, the balance of power is not equal, and there are structural and practical obstacles to seeking redress. Language is a barrier where documents and procedures are often in Arabic, and regulations are not always clear and accessible to the foreign worker. A complaint against the sponsor will often result in cancellation of the work visa, exposing the foreign worker at least to a period of time without income, if not potential deportation. Absconding is illegal, and as soon as a domestic worker leaves the employer, their status immediately becomes irregular with an absconding or runaway case against them. They are subject to arrest, detention and deportation. The absconding charge may affect the person’s ability to exit the country. These structural and practical challenges may make escape from an exploitative or abusive situation difficult, and in most cases, the worker is afraid of losing their job and of not being able to send support home to their family. Every Gulf country has launched “amnesty” programs designed to regularize or facilitate the exit for migrant workers in an irregular status, usually multiple times.104 Migrant-Rights.org, Faulty Fixes: A Review of Recent Amnesties and Recommendations for Improvement, 29 March 2019, available at: https://www.migrant-rights.org/2019/03/faulty-fixes-a-review-of-recent-amnesties-and-recommendations-forimprovement/ (“Over the past 30 years, each of the GCC countries has periodically launched amnesty campaigns to regularize or facilitate the exit of irregular migrant workers. Amnesties allow migrants to regularize their legal status or leave the country with fewer penalties than they would normally incur. These campaigns are commonly portrayed as a “gift” to erring migrant workers and fail to acknowledge that many migrants do not become undocumented out of choice, but because the labour migration system pushes migrants into an irregular status. The frequent use of amnesty programs indicates that irregularity is a common and recurring phenomenon; that it is a part of the kafala system, and that the relief brought by “amnesty” is as much for the labour market as it is for individual workers.”). 104 38 UNHCR / April 2021