Moors, Jureidini, Özbay, Sabban 159places are not completely under the control of migrant workers—migrants
often cannot own real estate—those in charge may well employ a wide
range of informal means to keep out those who do not belong. Clusterings
of such commercial spaces produce a certain density that turns certain
streets or areas into “ethnic neighborhoods.” For in spite of immigration
policies strongly discouraging any form of settlement, migrant workers—
domestics and others from the same countries of origin—have over time
gained a longstanding presence in particular areas. Some have succeeded
in remaining in the country for a long period of time either by accumulat-
ing a number of consecutive contracts (engaging in circular migration with
in-between trips back home) or by overstaying their visa. Moreover, it is
not necessary for the same people to remain for some sort of community
and collective presence to develop; it is sufficient to have a regular influx
of migrants from the same country of origin (for instance, through chain
migration). Such areas are also attractive as sites of residence for often
undocumented live-out domestics, whose houses function as a nucleus for
live-ins who frequent their apartments on their day off.
e ways in which migrant domestic workers are present in such Th
neighborhoods differs from location to location. In Istanbul, for instance,
since the fall of the Soviet Union the Laleli neighourhood has become
the center of the shuttle or suitcase trade with the former Soviet Union
and Eastern Europe.^25 Thousands of small shops and enterprises serve
this trade, which in turn has increased the demand for Russian-speaking
migrants. This neighborhood is also strongly associated with prostitution
by “Russians,” who are often from other parts of the former Soviet Union
such as the Ukraine.^26 While Laleli is also the area where many Moldavian
migrant domestic workers arrive and find their way to employment, the
popular image of these Moldavian women is different: they are neither
associated with prostitution nor labelled as “Russians.” In Laleli the recent,
very rapid influx of migrants from the former Soviet Union, liberal visa
conditions and the tremendous presence of suitcase traders have led to
the development of a multiethnic neighborhood, with migrant domestic
workers operating at its margins.
ubai has a long history of non-Arabs being present in public space. D
The port of Dubai has attracted traders and immigrants from the Iranian
coast, Baluchistan and India for centuries and in the 1930s an Indian