Dubai, July 28 The Indian government will soon tighten immigration laws for unskilled labourers travelling abroad for work.

Clearance by the immigration authorities will only be given after the companies recruiting the unskilled labourers submit relevant documents and get these attested by the Indian consulate or embassy.

"There are companies who bring labour on individual visas and there are companies who recruit labour in bulk under group visas, for which they need to get permission from the UAE (United Arab Emirates) Ministry of Labour," a report in the gulfnews.com website quoted B.S. Mubarak, Indian labour consul in UAE, as saying.

India is in the process of drafting a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on labour with countries in the Middle East.

It is expected to serve two purposes. It will stop unscrupulous agents and dubious firms from exploiting labourers and secondly, it will ensure better wages and living conditions for them.

Mubarak, however, added that companies recruiting labour from India are now showing more responsibility.

"Companies in UAE wanting to recruit Indian labourers are showing responsibility by getting us all the relevant documents for attestation," he told the website.

"A thorough check is run on all the documents. We also make sure that the recruitment agency in India holds a valid license. This is because licences to recruitment agencies in India are issued on yearly and bi-yearly basis," he added.

The request to revamp and tighten immigration at the airport was raised by the ambassadors in the Middle East to Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi during his trip to the Gulf earlier this year.

There are around five million Indian workers in Gulf countries, a large number of whom work as contract labourers.