Allow overseas domestic workers the right to change employers in the UK

Domestic workers from overseas can find themselves in the U.K. working for employers that abuse them, give them hardly any food, afford them little or no pay and often lock them in the very homes they are working in.

Astonishingly U.K. law stops migrant domestic workers from leaving these employers. The tied visa system in the U.K., equivalent to what is commonly known as the kafala system in the Middle East, means workers have to remain with the employer they arrived with to remain legal under immigration rules.

We know that giving these workers the right to find another employer makes them less vulnerable to modern slavery. ¹

“Now I am free. I [am] so happy.” Sara

In 2012, the U.K. Government introduced the tied visa, which prevents overseas domestic workers from changing employers. Fortunately for Sara, she entered the U.K. before 2012 and was able to find another job and support herself after escaping slavery. Now that is not an option. The tied visa increases the risk of domestic slavery because trying to escape from exploitative situations could mean facing arrest, removal from the U.K., or even further exploitation.²

Please call on the U.K. government to support the end of the tied visa system for migrant domestic workers.