The Moroccan woman, Ilham, was brought to the Kingdom to work as a receptionist at a beauty salon. However, after she arrived, she was forced to do immoral work.

Selling work visas has been a booming trade despite government efforts to put an end to it.

According to the local press, when Ilham arrived in the Kingdom she discovered that her visa was sold to another sponsor, who wanted to exploit her by forcing her to perform immoral acts. She took her case to the concerned authorities and waited for justice to be done to her.

To avoid such practices and protect the rights of foreign recruits, the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) has been calling for the abolition of the kafeel (sponsorship) system.

In a study titled “Relationship Between Employee and Employer,” the society called for the establishment of a special government entity affiliated with the Ministry of Labor to supervise the conditions of foreign manpower and to replace the sponsorship system. It proposed to name the entity and suggested it to be headquartered in Riyadh.

Society member Maatouk Al-Sharif said foreign workers should be allowed to keep their passports along with their iqamas (residence permits). He said the society had discussed the matter with the labor minister, who agreed that foreign laborers had every right to keep these documents with them.

Human rights activist in the Eastern Province Waleed Al-Silais called for the establishment of special societies and organizations to defend foreign manpower and protect them from exploitation. He said trade in foreign manpower has reached the point of hiring housemaids by hour. “Some Saudis recruit foreign women on housemaid visas, but they exploit them,” he said.

Speaking to Arab News, Al-Silais said housemaids were the most exploited category of foreign manpower. He said they were asked to do tough jobs without being allowed to complain.

A recruiter, who did not want his name to be published, said the prices of visas ranged from SR8,000 to SR12,000, depending on the job title and the country of origin.

He pointed out that poverty forces foreign workers to do work for which they were not brought in the first place.

Saleem Abu Karam, a Syrian expatriate, said he found himself a hostage at the hands of his sponsor. He found a better job at a private sector establishment, but his sponsor refused to release him. “My sponsor asked me to pay him SR20,000 to release me,” he said.

Abu Karam said the sponsor had paid the same amount to buy his visa from the first kafeel, who had brought him to the Kingdom. “The sponsor threatened to give me a final exit visa if I did not pay him the amount,” he said.

Director of the Foreign Ministry branch in Jeddah Muhammad Tayib said efforts were being made to control the work visas with a view to putting an end to the trade in them.