Fatima Muhammad

Saudi Gazette

 

JEDDAH — The owners of recruitment offices said they were “dissatisfied” the Ministry of Labor does not contact them prior to signing new agreements.



“We are always faced with new regulations that are only in favor of the countries we are recruiting from, but do not put the rights of Saudis as a priority,” said Ali Al-Qurashi, one of the owners.



He said companies are now facing a number of challenges when recruiting housemaids as they are trying to adhere to the ministry’s requirements, foreign embassies’ regulations and are being chased by clients who are waiting for their workers.



The problem, claimed Al-Qurashi, is that if one case of a violation is being reported, the work stops and the office is shut down regardless of the number of visas they are working on.



However, it is often the case that reports of the violation are unfounded, he said.



Examples of violations include runaway employees, or if the maid is believed to be 17 or younger, making her unfit for oversea jobs.



“We have faced such allegations even though we provided official documents that indicated the maid was above 17.



“However, the office was also closed and after investigations we only received an apology letter and got approval to continue our work, even though during this period we could have lost 200 or more pending visas.”



Abdul Moneim Al-Shihri, general manager of the Ministry of Labor in Makkah region, told Saudi Gazette that the claims were not true.



Al-Shihri announced Saudis could start in 2015 to apply for visas for domestic workers from the ministry offices in their own cities in Makkah province.



This, he said, would be a service provided directly to locals without the need to go to recruitment offices.



This service will be provided in Al-Laith, Qunfudah, Taif, Makkah and Jeddah, said Al-Shihri, who was speaking at the side of a Musanid (domestic workers recruitment program) workshop at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce.



The Musanid website provides the details of all 338 recruitment offices that are approved by the ministry, he said.



Al-Shihri said these companies are not used to technology and urged them to update their information on the website as well as provide a map indicating the location of their offices.



He also called on offices to improve their services because an evaluation system is to be implemented later on based on the feedback of clients.