Restore the Overseas Domestic Worker Visa and Regularise Migrant Domestic Workers
The Issue
Restore the Overseas Domestic Worker Visa and Regularise All Migrant Domestic Workers
A Campaign by Waling Waling
This petition is launched by Waling Waling, an organisation of migrant domestic workers that has been campaigning for workers' rights in the UK since the 1980s.
Waling Waling was established by migrant domestic workers who came together to challenge the exploitation, abuse and lack of rights experienced by workers employed in private households. Together with allies including Kalayaan and trade unions, Waling Waling played a central role in the successful campaign that won basic rights for migrant domestic workers in 1998, including the right to change employer, renew visas, and eventually apply for settlement in the UK. These protections were recognised internationally as an important safeguard against exploitation.
In 2012, those rights were removed when the Overseas Domestic Worker Visa was changed, tying workers more closely to their employers and leaving many vulnerable to exploitation. In response, Waling Waling reconvened in 2017 to campaign for the restoration of these rights and the recognition of domestic workers as workers under UK employment law.
Today, Waling Waling continues to fight for justice, fair wages, decent working conditions, and the recognition that domestic work in private households is work and should be protected by employment legislation.
Our Demands
We call on the UK Government to:
Restore the Overseas Domestic Worker Visa with the right to change employer.
Recognise domestic work in private households as work under employment legislation.
Regularise all migrant domestic workers who entered the UK legally after April 2012 and remain in the country.
Create a pathway to settlement for migrant domestic workers who contribute to UK society.
End policies that force workers into irregular status and leave them without rights or protection.
Why this matters
Before April 2012, migrant domestic workers entering the UK with their employers were granted visas that recognised them as workers in their own right. They could change employers, access employment protections, pay taxes, access healthcare and housing, and eventually apply for settlement.
The abolition of these rights has left thousands of workers trapped between exploitation and irregular status. Many entered the UK legally but have since been pushed into a situation where they are unable to exercise basic rights at work or in society.
Successive governments have argued that the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) and the Modern Slavery framework provide protection. However, many migrant domestic workers do not meet the strict criteria required to be recognised as victims of trafficking, even when they have experienced abuse, underpayment, excessive working hours, passport confiscation, or other forms of exploitation.
Workers should not have to prove they are victims in order to have rights.
Domestic Work is Work
Domestic workers care for children, the elderly, disabled family members, and households across the UK. Their labour enables families, businesses, and communities to function.
Domestic work is skilled work. It deserves the same recognition, legal protections, and dignity afforded to all other forms of employment.
The most effective protection against abuse is not dependency on an employer or a referral system. It is the ability to exercise rights as a worker, including the freedom to leave an abusive employer and seek alternative employment.
Sign the Petition
For decades, migrant domestic workers have contributed to British society while being denied recognition and protection.
We are calling on the UK Government to restore the rights that were won through years of campaigning, to recognise domestic work as work, and to regularise migrant domestic workers who have been left without status since 2012.
Sign today and stand with Waling Waling in the fight for dignity, justice, and workers' rights for all migrant domestic workers.
Learn more about Waling Waling at https://www.waling-waling.org.uk/
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The Issue
Restore the Overseas Domestic Worker Visa and Regularise All Migrant Domestic Workers
A Campaign by Waling Waling
This petition is launched by Waling Waling, an organisation of migrant domestic workers that has been campaigning for workers' rights in the UK since the 1980s.
Waling Waling was established by migrant domestic workers who came together to challenge the exploitation, abuse and lack of rights experienced by workers employed in private households. Together with allies including Kalayaan and trade unions, Waling Waling played a central role in the successful campaign that won basic rights for migrant domestic workers in 1998, including the right to change employer, renew visas, and eventually apply for settlement in the UK. These protections were recognised internationally as an important safeguard against exploitation.
In 2012, those rights were removed when the Overseas Domestic Worker Visa was changed, tying workers more closely to their employers and leaving many vulnerable to exploitation. In response, Waling Waling reconvened in 2017 to campaign for the restoration of these rights and the recognition of domestic workers as workers under UK employment law.
Today, Waling Waling continues to fight for justice, fair wages, decent working conditions, and the recognition that domestic work in private households is work and should be protected by employment legislation.
Our Demands
We call on the UK Government to:
Restore the Overseas Domestic Worker Visa with the right to change employer.
Recognise domestic work in private households as work under employment legislation.
Regularise all migrant domestic workers who entered the UK legally after April 2012 and remain in the country.
Create a pathway to settlement for migrant domestic workers who contribute to UK society.
End policies that force workers into irregular status and leave them without rights or protection.
Why this matters
Before April 2012, migrant domestic workers entering the UK with their employers were granted visas that recognised them as workers in their own right. They could change employers, access employment protections, pay taxes, access healthcare and housing, and eventually apply for settlement.
The abolition of these rights has left thousands of workers trapped between exploitation and irregular status. Many entered the UK legally but have since been pushed into a situation where they are unable to exercise basic rights at work or in society.
Successive governments have argued that the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) and the Modern Slavery framework provide protection. However, many migrant domestic workers do not meet the strict criteria required to be recognised as victims of trafficking, even when they have experienced abuse, underpayment, excessive working hours, passport confiscation, or other forms of exploitation.
Workers should not have to prove they are victims in order to have rights.
Domestic Work is Work
Domestic workers care for children, the elderly, disabled family members, and households across the UK. Their labour enables families, businesses, and communities to function.
Domestic work is skilled work. It deserves the same recognition, legal protections, and dignity afforded to all other forms of employment.
The most effective protection against abuse is not dependency on an employer or a referral system. It is the ability to exercise rights as a worker, including the freedom to leave an abusive employer and seek alternative employment.
Sign the Petition
For decades, migrant domestic workers have contributed to British society while being denied recognition and protection.
We are calling on the UK Government to restore the rights that were won through years of campaigning, to recognise domestic work as work, and to regularise migrant domestic workers who have been left without status since 2012.
Sign today and stand with Waling Waling in the fight for dignity, justice, and workers' rights for all migrant domestic workers.
Learn more about Waling Waling at https://www.waling-waling.org.uk/
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Petition created on 9 June 2026