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Migration Policy Reforms and Mobility Decision-Making

High-Skilled Second-Generation Residents in Qatar, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have introduced far-reaching migration reforms to attract and retain global talent. These reforms have affected a distinct group: second-generation residents born and raised in the Gulf who remain non-citizens despite deep social integration. Yet, while some perceive recent reforms as opening pathways to extended residence and stability, others continue to experience structural limits to long-term belonging. This policy report examines how legal frameworks shape mobility decisions, education and career strategies and whether current reforms are sufficient to retain the Gulf’s own home-grown talent in an increasingly competitive landscape.

Sharique Umar
May 3, 2026
Policy Reports
SmarterPix/Kenchiro75

Retaining Talent

Strategic Pathways for Highly Skilled South Asian Migrants in Saudi Arabia’s Knowledge Economy

Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 seeks to build a knowledge-based economy, placing highly skilled migrants at the centre of its economic transformation. While the Kingdom has introduced initiatives to attract global talent, limited long-term residency pathways and perceptions of permanent temporariness present challenges for retaining skilled professionals and fully leveraging their contribution to national development. This policy brief examines how highly skilled migrants and long-term residents perceive residency frameworks, career progression, and long-term prospects in Saudi Arabia, and assess the implications for strengthening talent retention to advance the Kingdom’s knowledge economy ambitions.

Areej Jamal, Nasra M. Shah, Richa Shivakoti
May 3, 2026
Policy Reports
© Smarterpix/Pazemin

Second Generation Highly Skilled Pakistanis in Dubai

Drivers of Secondary Migration

The United Arab Emirates has experienced a sharp rise in highly skilled migrant professionals, reflecting its strategic shift toward a knowledge-based economy. For Pakistan – one of the UAE’s key migrant-sending countries – this transformation presents new opportunities for skilled workers, while also raising questions about long-term integration, stability, and talent retention. This policy report explores how migration policies and legal frameworks shape professional and personal trajectories. It examines the implications of emerging residency schemes, such as the Golden Visa, and derives policy considerations to support the UAE’s long-term economic and development objectives.

Gennaro Errichiello
March 29, 2026
Policy Reports
© Smarterpix/vladimka

Beyond the Gulf

Rethinking Stepwise Migration, Citizenship Penalty, and Filipino Nurses in the UAE

The United Arab Emirates has become a key destination for highly skilled healthcare professionals from the Global South, with Filipino nurses forming the backbone of its expatriate healthcare workforce. Yet, despite strong qualifications and critical contributions, wage disparities and limited career advancements due to nationality-based labour market hierarchies persist. This policy report examines the professional experiences and migration trajectories of Filipino nurses in the UAE, explores how labour market hierarchies and residency frameworks influence career mobility, job security, and onward migration intentions, and assesses the implications of recent labour reforms.

Mouawiya Al-Awad, Froilan Malit, Jr.
March 28, 2026
Policy Reports
IMAGO/Xinhua; IMAGO/APAimages

Great Power Competition in the Gulf

Issue Brief

As global power dynamics shift away from unipolarity toward a more decentered international order, the Gulf is emerging as an increasingly important arena of strategic competition. Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states are navigating this environment through interest-based partnerships, maintaining ties with global powers while prioritising regional stability and economic development. This issue brief examines how Gulf leaders are responding to evolving great-power dynamics and why stability and de-escalation remain central to their regional agenda. The publication is a result of a collaboration between KAS’s Regional Programme Gulf States and the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative.

Jonathan Fulton
February 26, 2026
Single title

New Narratives of the Nation

History-telling and national identity formation in Saudi Arabia

Nowadays, national history and identity are being thought and written anew in Saudi Arabia, particularly as the influence accorded to Mohammad bin Abd al-Wahhab and the Wahhabi movement in the founding and expansion of the state is curtailed. This reduction of Wahhabism’s role and the associated exclusive focus on the Al Saud family are not as black and white as often described, however. The policy report explains how, why, and under which circumstances the Saudi historical narrative is changing under Vision 2030. The contribution argues that the new Saudi Arabia does not seek to establish a top-down, comprehensive founding myth for the nation. This new politics of history thus opens space for a variety of bottom-up historical narratives to exist alongside the Al Saud story.

Nicolas Reeves
February 22, 2026
Policy Reports
IMAGO / Depositphotos

From Vision 2030 to Zeitenwende

A blueprint for Saudi-German security cooperation

In today’s multipolar world, where shifting U.S. priorities mean Washington is no longer the sole global hegemon, middle powers with advanced technological capabilities now have greater space to lead. Saudi Arabia and Germany share an orientation toward technological innovation and seek to build strategic agency. Accordingly, natural potentials for partnership between the two countries exist in the defence and security space. This policy report outlines concrete steps for Saudi Arabia and Germany to deepen their defence cooperation. In doing so, the two countries can offer a blueprint for strengthening EU–GCC relations in security and defence, demonstrating how targeted bilateral initiatives can inspire more ambitious frameworks at the regional level.

Faris Almaari, Daniel Sidiqie
February 8, 2026
Policy Reports
IMAGO / Bashir Daher

New Yemen, New Gulf

The war in Yemen and the rift between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi

In the wake of the dramatic events in the Yemeni civil war at the turn of the year, the cards have been reshuffled between the regional powers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The military offensive by Emirati-backed separatists and the counterattack by the Yemeni government allied with Saudi Arabia are more than just another chapter in the war – they have caused tensions between the two Gulf monarchies to boil over. Not only has the long-simmering animosity between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi fully come to surface, but the conflict also makes another round of confrontations in the Gulf more likely. Moreover, it raises fundamental questions about stability in the Middle East, for which the Gulf states were in fact considered guarantors. In the Gulf, a new phase of politics could be dawning, with two opposing poles of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) pursuing conflicting regional visions with the help of different coalition partners. Likewise, the breakdown of the former Saudi-UAE alliance is not without consequences for Europe's foreign policy in the Middle East, which so far relied on both protagonists as anchors of stability.

Philipp Dienstbier, Nicolas Reeves
February 5, 2026
Country reports

From Barriers to Partnership: EU-GCC Leadership to Strengthen the International Economic Order

Two-day workshop in Riyadh

As threats to the positive-sum, mutually beneficial trading relations underpinning the international economic order of the past 50 years multiply, the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and Prince Saud Al Faisal Institute for Diplomatic Studies organised a workshop in Riyadh to discuss how Saudi-German and GCC-EU leadership can address and arrest this damaging momentum.

Nicolas Reeves
February 2, 2026
Event reports

Drivers of Grassroots Social and Political Transformation: Enhancing Saudi-German underground art spheres

Enhancing Saudi-German underground art spheres

Underground cultures in art, politics, and philosophy play a pivotal role in shaping societal debates. Germany and Saudi Arabia both host vibrant underground communities comprised mainly of youth from diverse backgrounds. These communities have witnessed and accompanied entire social and political transformations in the past and can thus be considered drivers of grassroots societal progress and creative problem-solving through artistic collaborations. Given these similarities between the Saudi and German underground scenes, this policy report analyses opportunities and obstacles for closer cooperation between representatives of the countries’ respective underground scenes.

Antonia Thies
February 1, 2026
Policy Reports

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Country Reports

Short political reports of the KAS offices abroad

The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung is a political foundation. Our offices abroad are in charge of over 200 projects in more than 120 countries. The country reports offer current analyses, exclusive evaluations, background information and forecasts - provided by our international staff.

Event Reports

The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, its educational institutions, centres and foreign offices, offer several thousand events on various subjects each year. We provide up to date and exclusive reports on selected conferences, events and symposia at www.kas.de. In addition to a summary of the contents, you can also find additional material such as pictures, speeches, videos or audio clips.

Policy Reports

Analyses of current topics in the Gulf region

The Policy Reports of the Regional Programme Gulf States offer insights and analyses on current developments in the Gulf States and the Gulf region at large. They contribute to a better understanding of the region and serve as a platform for German, European and the Gulf scholars to exchange and disseminate ideas and knowledge about the region for the broader policy community.

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