Under the relentless summer heat, hundreds of Asians line up for hours outside a ministry of interior building in central Dubai. A former prison, sarcastically dubbed the Jumeirah Hilton by expats, the building is now a place where illegal workers come to take advantage of a three-month government amnesty to secure an exit from the country they thought would bring them riches.
Tens of thousands of workers, Indian labourers who have absconded to work illegally or Filipina housemaids fleeing abusive employers, are seeking to legalise their presence or recover their passports and return home.
