No household workers deployed to KSA yet despite lifting of ban

No Filipino household workers have been deployed to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia despite the lifting of the ban imposed by KSA last year on Filipino and Indonesian household workers, the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) said.

The agency has already resumed the mandatory verification of employment contracts for household service workers (HSWs), but many of the recruitment agencies have yet to complete the required accreditation certificates for the workers’ deployment, said POEA Landbase Center officer-in-charge Yolanda Paragua.

Saudi Arabia stopped issuing work visas for domestic workers from the Philippines and Indonesia beginning July 2, 2011, owing to labor rows with the two countries. According to the Saudi Ministry of Labor, it decided to stop hiring domestic workers from the two countries after they imposed stricter conditions on prospective Saudi employers.

The ban was lifted in January, with Saudi Arabia and the Philippines signing an agreement that raised the minimum monthly wage for FIlipino HSWs in the kingdom to $400.

“Under the agreements, the Saudi government already allowed the Philippines to resume our verification requirement and that a standard employment contract would already be adopted,” said Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz. — BM, GMA News