[5] Filipinos in the United Arab Emirates are primarily migrant overseas workers employed in the architecture,[6] construction,[7] cargo shipping[8] design engineering,[6] energy,[9] information technology, marketing,[6] medical, real estate,[6] retail, telecommunications, and tourism sectors or as domestic helpers.
[10] These offices, as well as agreements between the Filipino and UAE governments, have set the monthly minimum salary for OFW's at US$400.
[2] The Embassy of the Philippines in the UAE asked laid-off Filipinos to register, because of the possibility of job openings in nearby Qatar.
[7] However, the decline could also be attributed to new visa and passport requirements that the government of the UAE instituted midway through 2008,[12][13] affecting up to 20,000 Filipinos.
[14] Those with expired visas were stranded on the Iranian island of Kish, and at Al Buraimi, Oman near the Oman/UAE border.