Furthermore, I know of no circumstance where someone has ever had to forfeit their passport to their employer be it aviation or any other industry and I find it extremely hard to believe that AD would withhold his
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Well first - what I DONT KNOW- what AD does reg the passports etc.
Now, What I DO KNOW- Passports being held by the employeers for overseas employees is common atleast in many Middle East countries. I should know , my brother works in one those countries (not in aviation agreed - but as a computer engineer) and from him and from many other acquaintances I understand this is standard practice in many such countries.
So please dont make sweeping statements that passports are not held by their employers anywhere etc. Even in India (and again I stress I dont know anything specifically abt AD), it is quite common to find some employers holding onto their employees original educational certiciates etc - so that the staff dont move to another job without adequate notice etc.
Yeah you can always preach the idealism - look for another job et all - but when you have some 1000 people on an avergae chasing for 1 job, sometimes you may have to give in to such compromises etc.
There is something called er unemployment......... and it is not pretty!