E/CN.4/1997/71/Add.2 page 9 35. Employers often refuse to pay for an employee's ticket home and many domestic workers have taken refuge at the embassy. Although non-payment of wages is frequent, it is difficult to prove; an employee may state that his wages have not been paid for 18 months but, without a pay slip, it is difficult to provide evidence that can be brought before a court. Nothing can be done if the employer denies everything. 36. The solution currently under consideration would entail keeping a record of wages or, with the consent of the Kuwaiti authorities, requiring part of an employee's wages to be deposited in a bank account. The Sri Lankan Government therefore proposes to include in labour contracts a provision stipulating that employers must pay 80 per cent of their employees' wages into a bank account in Sri Lanka. Visas issued to immigrants must be communicated to the Sri Lankan embassy in Kuwait so that the name and address of the sponsoring families of domestic workers can be recorded. In that regard, it has been suggested that it would be better for the employer to contact the embassy or the Dasma Centre to determine whether a missing domestic worker is there before applying to the police rather than following the reverse procedure, which is the current practice and results in an arrest. 37. It must be emphasized that Government employees, even foreign ones, are usually well treated and receive social benefits such as schooling, health care and housing free of charge. However, problems arise in large companies, whose workers are exploited. Of the 20,000 jobs in State cooperatives, 95 per cent are filled by foreigners and 5 per cent by Kuwaitis. There are agricultural, consumer (central markets, handicrafts and savings) and investment cooperatives. With few exceptions, wages are not paid and, except in the petroleum branch, the housing provided by companies in the economic sector is inadequate; workers responsible for the cleaning and upkeep of public buildings, squares and streets live in barracks in poor neighbourhoods, such as Hassaoui and Abbasia. They are housed six or seven to a room, hygiene is poor, and there is considerable promiscuity. They work two eight-hour shifts per day and are paid KD 30-35 per month. Before leaving their home countries, they are required to pay a security to the recruiting agency; Iranians, for example, pay KD 700-800 for a visa. They are promised high wages but, on their arrival in Kuwait, their contracts are rewritten. They are hired for two- to five-year periods and their families are left behind in their home countries. They are afraid to return home until they have repaid the money they borrowed to cover their recruitment expenses (visa and travel costs). It is a vicious circle: without a residence permit, an “undocumented” migrant worker has no legal right to remain in the country. He is arrested and taken to Dasma, then transferred to the Talha prison where, after being held for an indefinite period, he can be expelled or repatriated. 38. Problems also arise in connection with family situations (for example, marriage or family reunification). Marriages are registered at the embassies of those concerned; in the case of Sri Lankans, for example, the Government must give its authorization and determine that neither of the would-be spouses is registered as married in the home country. Family reunification rights vary according to the type of visa. Holders of No. 20 visas, in other words, domestic workers, may not be joined by their spouses; when two holders of this type of visa marry, they find it difficult to register and obtain residence permits for their children. The right to family reunification is contingent