UAE, Saudi Arabi and Oman are top Gulf country for Indian job seekers

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is now the top country in the Gulf where Indians are migrating in search of work, according to emigration clearance data for the first six months of 2017 cited in a The Times of India report.

The current statistics show Saudi Arabia is no more the major Gulf destination for Indian job-seekers as it used to be in the past. The UAE leads the chart by a huge margin.

Of the total emigration clearance of nearly 1.84 lakh, as many as 74,778 Indians (or 40.6%) obtained emigration clearances for the UAE during January-June this calendar year, while only 32,995 (or 18% ) migrated to Saudi Arabia, the report reveals. At the third spot was Oman, with 30,413 migrants, which is 16.5% of the total Gulf migration.

And the most number of the migrants came from the Indian state of Bihar. Bihar contributed 35,807 (or 19.5%) of the total migrants to the Gulf. It was followed by Uttar Pradesh (UP) which sent 33,043 migrants (or 18%).

In 2015, of the total 7.58 lakh Indian migrants to the Gulf, 31% hailed from UP and only 14% from Bihar.

Migration from UP to Saudi Arabia has come down during the first half of 2017. Of 3.06 lakh migrants to Saudi Arabia in 2015, 1.28 lakh (or 42%) came from UP. In 2016, out of 1.65 lakh migrants to Saudi Arabia, 36% were from UP.

Between January and June, only 1,179 workers from UP obtained emigration clearance for Saudi Arabia. This works out to a mere 3.57% of the total migration to this country, the report adds.