Saudi Gazette report
JEDDAH – The issuance of nearly 40,000 visas for Filipino maids has been delayed due to the inability of Filipino foreign missions in the Kingdom to process visas in a timely manner, Makkah daily reported quoting an anonymous source. A source in a private sector recruitment office said the Philippines missions in the Kingdom only accept five visa requests per week, which hinders the issuance of a large amount of visas.
“The entire issue started eight months ago when a batch of visas were delayed by three months. The missions had to limit the number of visa applications they processed in a week to be able to meet the Filipino government’s pace,” said the source.
He said a single recruitment office will only be able to complete the visa procedures of 20 maids each month. “The mission’s inflexible regulations are negatively affecting recruitment offices. Saudi families are mostly applying for Filipino maids and our inability to meet their requests is costing us,” said the source.
He added recruitment offices are losing customers, which has prompted many offices to reduce the number of staff they employ.
“Many offices had to reject customers’ requests because they are aware they will never be able to meet the deadline and will have to face penalties. Recruitment offices in Saudi Arabia and in the Philippines are equally affected and the problem is with the Philippines government,” said the source while urging the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to interfere and take a stance in the matter.
