“I have been working as a driver for a Saudi family for four years now and I want to go home for a vacation because I miss my family. I have six kids. But I am afraid that I may not be able to come back,” said 49-year-old Saleh Lontua who comes from Ipil, Zamboanga del Sur, in southern Philippines.

He said that in June, a Filipino housemaid working for his employer traveled to the Philippines for her vacation.

“She had an exit-reentry visa but immigration officials in Riyadh stamped it with 'exit only',” Lontua told Arab News.

A family driver — like housemaid, cook, gardener and caregiver — is considered a household worker.

An official at the Philippine Overseas Office in Riyadh (POLO-Riyadh) said this incident has to be reported to the Philippine Embassy, adding that the ban applies only to new household Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) intending to work in Saudi Arabia.

The advocacy group Migrante-Middle East urged the Philippine Embassy to seek audience with concerned authorities to clarify issues affecting OFWs.

“I called the embassy to clarify issues after five Filipino maids called me to ask about their status as OFW rehires. But I was told to wait for an embassy press statement,” John Leonard Monterona, Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator, told Arab News.

Saudi Arabia had earlier announced to stop granting work permits to Philippine and Indonesian maids after failing to agree on hiring conditions imposed by the Asian countries.

The Philippine government had demanded a SR1,500 minimum salary ($400) for Filipino maids, sketch of the employer's residence, proof of salary not less than SR6,000, among others.

In a meeting in Manila recently, the Saudi side suggested a $250 minimum salary for Filipino maids. However, the Philippine Ministry of Labor was firm in its decision to uphold its minimum wage for all OFWs, which is the equivalent of $400 in the host country's currency.

The minimum wage requirement by the Philippines government is why many OFWs end up having the contract they sign back home replaced upon arrival in the Kingdom with contracts stating lower wages.