ABSTRACT
Oil prices had already drastically dropped over the last decade with the average yearly crude oil price plummeting from around $98 per barrel in 2013 to less than $40 per barrel in 2020. The combination of the sanitary and economic crises severely impacted the living and working conditions of the vast majority of expatriates in the urban Gulf. The relationship between the GCC and foreign workers, especially from South Asia has been one of mutual, if uneven, interdependence. Over the last decade, and especially Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tenure, India has pursued a significant policy rapprochement with the GCC states. Studies of India’s migration towards the GCC have demonstrated that the bulk of initiative is still individual-driven rather than the outcome of an institutionalised migration governance system.
