ABSTRACT
A large majority of the population living in the cities of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is of foreign origin. These immigrants constitute about 85 per cent of the total population of the country and even a higher proportion of the manpower. Since the mid-1980s, migration flows from Asia have been predominant and account for more than half of the total population. This unique demographic situation of the country, that of a large number of migrants, is reinforced by another specificity related to international labour migration – that these migrants are exclusively under contract and therefore temporary. In other words, the foreign manpower is continually renewed on the basis of a limited working permit.
