11. Tamil Nadu Migrants in the Gulf

Tamil Nadu migration survey 2015 was conducted to collect the migration data for Tamil Nadu and understand its impact as the series of Kerala migration surveys helped Government of Kerala in framing policies based on the results. Tamil Nadu migration survey results have estimated that 2.2 million emigrants from Tamil Nadu are living abroad, which is around 3 per cent of the total population of Tamil Nadu. Though Singapore is estimated to receive the largest number of emigrants from Tamil Nadu accounting to 410,000 followed by the UAE with 400,000 emigrants, GCC states between them receive over half of the emigrants, estimated to be 1.1 million. Tamil Nadu has a long history of its people migrating to Singapore and Malaysia and settling there. This had started in the pre-independence era, but the Gulf migration started recently and it gives different opportunities compared to Singapore or Malaysia. This chapter explores the characteristic distinctions of migration to GCC states. Through descriptive data analysis, the chapter explores the demographic data and it shows how 20 per cent of all migrants to non-GCC countries are female whereas it is 9 per cent in case of GCC countries. It also finds that Muslim population migrating to GCC is four times larger than the share of Muslim population migrating to non-GCC countries. Educational status of migrants is naturally different as the GCC countries require different educational qualification as compared to non-GCC countries and it is especially seen that one-third of the migrants to non-GCC countries has a college degree or more. Wage problems seem to exist with return migrants from both the countries, but it is slightly higher in case of GCC countries. As problems such as compulsory expatriation and poor working conditions are some of the reasons for returning among GCC migrants, most migrants in non-GCC countries return due to family problems and/or expiry of contract. Though countries such as Singapore and the USA has higher per-migrant remittance, the analysis and approximation of remittances reveal that GCC countries contribute to almost 50 per cent of all migration. The chapter concludes explaining the need to emphasize the importance of devising policies for migrants to GCC countries by understating their characteristics thoroughly.