Shams Ahsan

Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH – After a hiatus of more than three years, Saudi Arabia will start issuing recruitment visas for Indonesian domestic helpers after April.



A Saudi-Indonesian Joint Working Committee will meet next month in the Kingdom and in April in Jakarta to finalize the agreement which was signed on Wednesday by Minister of Labor Adel Fakieh and Indonesian Manpower and Transmigration Minister Abdul Muhaimin Iskandar in Riyadh.



Disclosing this to Saudi Gazette, Indonesia’s Deputy Minister for Manpower Placement Reyna Usman said here on Sunday that Jakarta will filter from the existing 547 authorized recruitment agents to meet the requirements of the agreement. “It’s a historic agreement since the first recruitment from Indonesia in 1970s,” she said.



“It’s the outcome of cooperation between the ministries of the two countries to make one vision to help both the employer and the employee,” said Usman, who held a meeting on Sunday with Ziyad Al-Sayegh, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Labor for Client Services and Labor Relations, to finalize the agenda for framework and agreement for the Joint Working Committee meeting.



According to the agreement, visa processing should not take a maximum of one month. Recruitment agents will be penalized for any delay in visa processing. After arrival in the Kingdom, domestic helpers must get their residence permits (iqamas) within three months.



There will be a call center available 24/7 for assistance to domestic helpers.



A protection insurance scheme will be implemented for employees against unpaid wages, abuse, in case of death and accident, and for employers against work refusal, huroob (runaway) cases, and against workers who are medically unfit to work.



According to provisions of the agreement, the employer should facilitate the opening of a bank account for the domestic helper and give one-day off.



The Indonesian government will ensure that domestic helpers being recruited for work in Saudi Arabia are above 21 years of age and below 50, have no criminal records, are medically and psychologically fit.



It will also provide a 200-hour pre-recuitment training on specific skills, culture, customs, and social practices in Saudi Arabia. Workers must submit certificates that they have finished training in the field for which they are being recruited.   



The most important point of the agreement is the establishment of an online system in both countries for recruitment and placement. The data on the labor market demand and supply will be accessible online.



The Saudi employer will be sent the biodata of the worker he is going to hire, and the worker’s family will be sent the profile of the employer’s family.