When the maid arrives, she may work for the first couple of months of her two-year contract, but she will then demand higher wages or escape. Despite the security and economic hazards that might result from runaway maids and their employment through the black market, recruitment offices don’t do anything in this regard. The offices do not take any precautionary measures to prevent the escape of maids. They are only concerned about getting their money. They do not sign any agreements with the offices that provide the maids in their home countries to make sure the maids will honor their employment contracts.
We have never heard of any decision to preserve the rights and money of the citizens, who pay about SR10,000 and wait for six months for their maids to arrive. The need for domestic help may drive some families to look for maids on the black market at high prices. The gangs of the black market distribute the maids secretly in shaded cars using telephone numbers that are constantly changed. They make sure that the housemaids escaping in Jeddah are distributed in Riyadh; those from Riyadh are sent to the Eastern Province, and so forth. The marketing operations are done by brokers with various identities, such as private drivers, perfume salesmen or tailors.
The runaway maid may join a criminal gang and collect information about the family for whom she is working, their timetable and financial position and later carry out a robbery.
The recruitment chaos goes further than this. The maid may not be physically fit, and the health certificate in her possession may be fake. She may turn out to be pregnant when she arrives here. "Congratulations! Your maid is pregnant!" the doctor may tell the sponsor. This is because the medical examination done back home might have "overlooked" her health condition. When the citizen discovers that his maid is physically unfit, he will have to wait another five months before he gets a replacement from the recruitment office.
We are now close to Ramadan, which is a high season for maids. Their salaries go higher than those of private schoolteachers. Due to the bad services of the recruitment offices and the lack of supervision on them, many Saudi families find themselves obliged to employ runaway or illegal maids in their homes. Any solutions for the sake of the country?
