In those countries, it takes as little as one month to recruit maids from abroad and that too with an average price of SR7,000.

The price varies based on the nationality of the maid. It takes one week to recruit a maid if her employer returned her and she did not find any job in the country.

Saudis with relatives in those countries tend to ask for their help to recruit maids under their names.

Saudis currently face a lot of difficulties in getting maids, as the Kingdom banned recruitment from Indonesia and the Philippines.

Recruitment offices in the Kingdom are left with few choices. Recruiting maids from Kenya and Ethiopia requires long time and huge amounts of money. Those who decide to hire illegal maids within the country pay SR1,800 as an average salary, which could go up to SR2,500 in Ramadan.

Most of the people interviewed by Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper agreed that it takes a period of one to two months to recruit maids from other Gulf countries. If the maid is without a job, then it takes just one week to hire her.

Abdullah Al-Juwaied, a Saudi with a relative in Kuwait, said he managed to recruit a maid from Nepal that was returned from her previous employer and could not find a job. He said that he paid his relative only SR6,000 to recruit her under his name. According to regulations in Kuwait, maids working abroad should obtain a permit, which is valid for six months but could be renewed for consecutive periods.

Salem Al-Jabr, another Saudi with a relative in Kuwait, explained why he turned to his relative for help. He said, “It’s a long wait to get a maid in the Kingdom, not to mention the costs. If we recruit from inside the Kingdom, we will end up paying a huge monthly salary. Those temporary maids never last; they work for a month or two and they move on. I managed to recruit a maid from Sri Lanka within one week using my Kuwaiti relative’s name.” He added that maids in Kuwait were trained very well and they speak Arabic.

Fahd Al-Salem, another Saudi, said illegal maids were a pain in the neck. With the approach of Ramadan, they just quit, leaving families stranded.