If you are in immediate danger, call the local emergency number first. Emergency numbers are printed on the back of most residence cards and shown on every Gulf government website — save the number for your country in your phone today, before you need it.
Situations where you should get official help immediately
- Your employer keeps your passport and refuses to return it.
- Your salary is unpaid for one month or more, or you are paid less than your contract says.
- You are forced to work in extreme heat, without safety equipment, or without rest days.
- You arrived and the job is completely different from the one you were promised.
- You are locked in, threatened, beaten, or your food and water are controlled.
- You have no residence permit because your employer never processed or renewed it.
- You are sick or injured and your employer refuses treatment or insurance.
None of these situations are your fault, and in every Gulf country there is an official route to complain — usually free and available in your language. You do not need to pay an agent to file a complaint.
Where to go, by country of work
Every GCC state has a labour ministry (or human resources ministry) with a worker complaint hotline and app, plus a police emergency line. Search the official government portal for your country — for example the ministry responsible for labour or human resources — and look for “labour complaint”, “wage protection” or “worker helpline”. Government sites usually end in .gov.sa, .gov.ae, .gov.qa, .gov.om, .gov.bh or .gov.kw. Do not use numbers sent to you in WhatsApp forwards; they are often scams.
Your own country’s help, by nationality
Your embassy or consulate has a Labour or Community Welfare section whose job is exactly this. Contact them directly — they do not charge fees.
- India — Indian Embassy/Consulate Labour Wing, the Indian Community Welfare Fund, and the government’s MADAD consular grievance portal for complaints raised online.
- Pakistan — Pakistani Embassy/Consulate Community Welfare Attaché and the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation.
- Bangladesh — Bangladesh Embassy Labour Wing and the Wage Earners’ Welfare Board.
- Nepal — Nepali Embassy Labour Attaché and the Foreign Employment Board welfare fund.
- Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan Embassy/Consulate welfare officer and the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment.
Find the current phone number and address by searching for the official embassy website of your country in the Gulf country you live in. Save it in your phone and share it with your roommates.
Before you complain — three things that protect you
- Photograph your documents now. Contract, offer letter, residence card, salary slips, bank statements and your passport photo page. Keep copies in your email so you still have them if your phone is lost or taken.
- Write down dates. When you started, when salary stopped, who said what. A simple diary is strong evidence.
- Tell one person you trust outside your workplace — a friend, a relative at home, or this community — where you are and what is happening.
Never do these
- Do not hand your passport, residence card or ATM card to an agent, “friend” or new employer.
- Do not sign a paper you cannot read. Ask for a translation, or photograph it and ask here first.
- Do not accept a job on a visit visa or work outside your sponsor without checking the law — the worker is usually the one fined or deported.
- Do not pay a fee to “cancel”, “transfer” or “release” your visa to someone who is not your official employer.
This page is general community information, not legal advice, and contact details change. Always confirm with the official government or embassy source. If you know a helpline that helped you, please tell us so we can add it.