There have long been complaints about the hardship and human rights abuses of migrant workers living in the Middle East.

[27][28] Domestic workers in the Middle East often face arbitrary torture and indefinite detention amounting to cruel and inhumane treatment.

[citation needed] Sri Lankan people have came to work in Tanzania during the British colonial rule of the early 20th Century.

The New York City Metropolitan Area contains the largest Sri Lankan community in the United States, receiving the highest legal permanent resident Sri Lankan immigrant population,[36] followed by Central New Jersey and the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

Most Sri Lankans in India reside in and around the southern state of Tamil Nadu with some small populations in the big cites like Delhi and Chennai.

[40][13] Ceylonese Tamils made up an overwhelming majority in the civil service of British Malaya and Singapore prior to independence.

After the Pangkor Treaty of 1874, the British embarked upon the construction of roads, railways, schools, hospitals, and government offices in the Malay Peninsula, to develop the country and to increase its revenue.

"It was to meet those early problems that Malaya looked to its older sister Ceylon for help and probably, the then Governor of the Straits Settlements secured the despatch to Perak of the 2nd division of the Ceylon Pioneer Corp. "So it fell to the Ceylonese to survey the railways and to build and man them, to be apothecaries in the hospitals, to be technical assistants to qualified engineers and to staff the clerical services on which an expanding government was bound increasingly to depend.

Many of the first Asian and non-white doctors and engineers in Malaya and Singapore were of Sri Lankan Tamil descent.

Former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew once said: In terms of numbers, the Ceylonese, like the Eurasians, are among the smallest of our various communities.

Yet in terms of achievements and contributions to the growth and development of the modern Singapore and Malaysia they have done more than warranted by their numbers.

In the early days of Malaysia's and Singapore's history the civil service and the professions were manned by a good number of Ceylonese.

It was formed to promote and preserve the Political, Educational, Social and Cultural aspects of the Malaysian Ceylonese Community.

The Singapore flag was flown at half mast at all public buildings and former Prime Minister and friend Lee Kuan Yew cried when giving his eulogy.

For Sri Lankans Saudi Arabia is the largest "unskilled and semi-skilled labour" importing country, ahead of Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

[48] During January 2010 up until October 56,000 workers have left for Saudi Arabia, however thousands have run away or escaped from their employers due to ill-treatment or when found that they had been duped by unscrupulous job agents.

Most expatriates from Sri Lanka, along with other immigrants from the Indian subcontinent, tend to be found in Dubai, although sizeable communities are existent in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Al-Ain and Ras al-Khaimah.

[1] The vast majority of Parisian Tamils fled Sri Lanka as refugees in the 1980s, escaping the violent civil conflict.

In 1987, the Office for the Protection of Refugees (OFPRA) gained in power and opened up a period of nearly systematic asylum.

This liberal period eventually tapered off in the 90s as a result of new European measures designed against an influx in immigration.

According to the journal Hinduism Today, the youth are being well trained in their religion and culture at home and in weekend schools in rented halls using texts from Sri Lanka.

But they have also opened businesses such as restaurants, cleaning enterprises (e.g. Cooperativa Multietnica di Pulizie Sud-Est), call centres, video-shops, traditional food shops and minimarkets.

[51] Nadeesha Uyangoda is a Sri Lanka-born journalist who has called for second-generation Italian immigrants to be better represented at all levels of politics.

Italy was attractive to the Sinhalese due to perceived easier employment opportunities and entry, compared to other European countries.

In Rome, Naples and Milan, the Sinhalese have built up "enlarged families", where jobs are exchanged among relatives and compatriots.

[55] In December 2023, it was reported that Romania has attracted increased numbers of immigrants from South Asia, including Nepalis and Sri Lankans.

Sri Lankans in Romania made up the second largest expatriate force of non-European Union origin, with a total of 15,807 people.

[60][61] Sri Lankans have been migrating to Britain for several generations, up from the time of British ruled Ceylon (started in the 19th century).

Because the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) uses Sinhalese as opposed to Sri Lankan as the category to define ancestry, it is hard to estimate the number of Tamil Sri Lankans currently living in Australia The early arrivals to come to New Zealand from what was then British Ceylon were a few prospectors attracted to the gold rushes.

Sri Lankans mainly worked in health professions, business and property services, and the retail and manufacturing sectors, in large numbers.