Diplomatic missions turned into recruitment offices

Diplomatic missions turned into recruitment offices
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Updated 21 May 2013
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Diplomatic missions turned into recruitment offices

Diplomatic missions turned into recruitment offices

The three-month grace period for illegal workers to rectify their legal status has inadvertently turned many foreign missions into recruitment offices.
Crowds of laborers are camping out at their consulates and embassies, hoping to legalize their status so they can obtain a valid iqama (residency permit) and work permit to stay in the Kingdom.
Saudi businessmen go to these consulates in search of migrant laborers and to sign contracts with embassy officials.
Even women in need of household workers are heading to these consulates to negotiate employment terms directly with maids.
Suha Adel, a private sector employee, said she went to the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah to search for a housemaid during the grace period. “There were hundreds of maids. One of them demanded that all Philippine regulations related to pay, holidays and repatriation to the home country be implemented in return for transferring her sponsorship and giving her a trial period,” said Adel.
The month of Ramadan will coincide with the expiry of the grace period, and this demands fast action, said Adel. She called for the setting up of companies to hire housemaids because of increasing demand and a lack of availability of domestic helpers.
Maha Al-Amiri, an estate investor, appreciated the concessions announced by the Ministry of Labor. She has three guards who are not under her sponsorship and she wanted to legalize their status during the grace period but is so far unable to do so since the regulations have not been implemented at the Passport Department.
Mazen Shammari, executive director at a consultancy office, said a large number of immigrant laborers in Saudi Arabia want to legalize their residency status. This will give the Saudi market a qualitative leap and contribute to its organization, he added.
An official at the Saudi Embassy in Sri Lanka said the Sri Lankan government had decided to organize the procedure of sending housemaids to Saudi Arabia.
Some of these regulations don’t accept legislative sponsorship issued by the notary or authorization from the Saudi Embassy in Colombo to Sri Lankan labor offices for the purpose of hiring housemaids. Dealings will be limited to bringing in housemaids to accredited labor offices in Saudi Arabia that are bound by legal contracts to accredited Sri Lankan labor offices. In addition, the minimum age for Sri Lankan housemaids has been increased to 25 years.