SM enjoys occasionally keeping tabs on diaspora members worldwide and the brothers-in-arms in the Gulf are a particularly interesting, if occasionally sad case. Lured by much greater economic opportunity but often forced to deal with 2nd class citizen status (and worse) - their tales really help show the lengths some folks will go to to eke out a few bucks for the fam.

Fewer Lights in the Future?

Now, with the global collapse of the closely intertwined construction and finance industries, the Gulf has been particularly hard hit. An interesting leading indicator of sorts is the shape of traffic at the airport -

For many expatriate workers in Dubai it was the ultimate symbol of their tax-free wealth: a luxurious car that few could have afforded on the money they earned at home.

Now, faced with crippling debts as a result of their high living and Dubai's fading fortunes, many expatriates are abandoning their cars at the airport and fleeing home rather than risk jail for defaulting on loans.

Police have found more than 3,000 cars outside Dubai's international airport in recent months. Most of the cars - four-wheel drives, saloons and "a few" Mercedes - had keys left in the ignition. Some had used-to-the-limit credit cards in the glove box. Others had notes of apology attached to the windscreen.

Not surprisingly, Desis are a large % of the folks fleeing-

Faced with a cash crunch and a bleak future ahead, there were no goodbyes for the migrants -- overwhelmingly South Asians, mostly Indians - just a quiet abandoning of the family car at the airport and other places.

...When contacted, the dealer for Asgar Ali cars in Sharjah said, "We are helpless and do not know how to tackle this issue. A large number of such owners are from Indian, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and other South Asian countries."

In most developed world economies, the tools of citizenship, credit reporting, and extradition usually prevent this sort of behavior. In other words, if I buy a car in Canada and try to leave it and its monthly payments behind at the Vancouver airport, I can generally expect some pretty severe financial consequences in the mailbox back home. As the Times Online notes, however, for whatever set of reasons, such international financial relationships don't always hold in Dubai -

Most of the emirate's banks are not affiliated with British financial institutions, so those who flee do not have to worry about creditors.

And in that nugget, perhaps we find the beginnings of an explanation. The 2nd class status not only prevented many expat workers from laying down roots, BUT, by creating a pseudo-anonymous limbo, it ironically also helped them leave their liabilities at the airport when they left the country altogether.

[related: NYT coverage]