Let's take a quick look now at patterns of migrant labor in Asia. According to research scholar Wajihah Hamid, Southeast Asia is one of the continent's largest providers of workers. She says Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam are considered to be "sending" countries, while Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand are major receiving nations. The Inter Press Service reports that the Middle East's Gulf region has an estimated 2 point 4 million migrant domestic workers, mostly recruited from the Philippines, Indonesia and India. All foreign workers in the Gulf fall under a "visa-sponsorship system" which does not allow them to leave or change employers without their initial employer's consent.