Demographics
By 1999, the population of Indian migrants in the UAE, which stood at 170,000 in 1975, was at 750,000. The estimated population of Indians in the UAE as of 2009 is near 2 million. Indians constitute 42% of the total UAE population. A majority of Indians in the UAE (approximately 50% - 883,313 in 2011) are from the South Indian state of Kerala, followed by migrants from Tamilnadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa. The majority of Indians were Muslims (56%), followed by Christians (26%) and Hindus (16%). Naturalisation and citizenship laws in the UAE effectively make it impossible for a path to permanent residency or citizenship. A vast majority of Indian migrants are on employment based visas, while others are on business or trade visas. Approximately 26% of Indian migrants live in apartments or villas in the large cities of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, while 15% live in rented rooms in cities. The remaining migrants (about one-third) live in collective labour accommodations (referred to as labour camps), such as those in Mussafah (Abu Dhabi) or Sonapur (Dubai). Approximately 88% of those living in collective labour accommodations live in rooms with an average occupancy ranging from four to eight. Recently, Human Rights Watch criticised the labour accommodations, calling the living conditions less than human.
In addition, over 300,000 undocumented migrants, many of whom are Indian, are said to be living in the UAE. Undocumented migrants, if caught, are jailed and then deported to their home countries. A federal law enacted in 1996 in the UAE imposed sanctions against undocumented migrants and their employers. The UAE government offers amnesty programs where foreign undocumented workers can voluntarily leave the country without facing imprisonment or having to pay fines. One such three month amnesty program in 2007 benefitted 110,000 illegal Indian migrants, all of whom were either legally reabsorbed into the UAE workforce or allowed to return to India without sanctions or imprisonment.
Read more about this topic: Indians In The United Arab Emirates