300 Filipino women get married, 12 of them to Saudis, in local courts

JEDDAH — The Personal Status Courts in all regions of the Kingdom recorded 300 marriages of Filipino women, with 12 of them marrying Saudi nationals. Sources revealed that eight marriages were solemnized between couples with written agreements between the two parties but without being documented in the courts due to the complexity of procedures. Lawyer Essam Al-Mulla said he received several cases of local residents marrying citizens without documenting the marriage in the Personal Status Court in the past three months. There were at least eight cases with the marriage arranged by signing a paper between the bride and groom in a process known as "customary" marriage. In such marriage relationships, problems rose after a couple of months due to the woman's inability to prove the marriage, the lawyer said. "Most of the women involved were domestic workers or nurses,” Al-Mulla said. He stressed that in dealing with those cases he was able to communicate with the women's husbands and try to reach positive solutions through courts. In the case of the husband's refusal to recognize the woman as his wife, a lawsuit is filed in court. "But if the husband wants to settle the issue, he should file a request with the court for documenting the marriage. He will have to pay a SR10,000 penalty and the request is sent to the Interior Ministry after questioning the concerned parties in the presence of police officials," Al-Mulla said.