JEDDAH: The problem of domestic help is likely to become more critical for Saudi households.

The emerging crisis is expected to pose serious challenges to the Ministry of Labor, which already faces accusations of failure in handling the recruitment file. Despite the high hopes raised by the recent visit of Indonesian President Joko Widodo to Saudi Arabia, government sources in Indonesia confirmed to a local newspaper that the country has permanently banned sending domestic workers to the Kingdom.

The Indonesian government is believed to have decided to bring back to the country its overseas maids and drivers within a period not exceeding 15 months.

More than 700,000 Indonesian workers are currently working in the Kingdom, most of them women.

The Indonesian diplomatic missions in Riyadh and Jeddah receive about 10 labor complaints a day, a majority of them involving wage disputes.

The sources said the decision to ban sending domestic labor is final and involves 21 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, the UAE, Lebanon and Egypt.

The reason for the ban is stated to be the lack of rules that regulate the work of domestic labor in these countries, mainly those linked with the material and moral rights of workers.

The Indonesian recruiting crisis started in 2011 when the Ministry of Labor issued a decision to ban the issuance of visas for Indonesian domestic workers.

The decision came on the backdrop of additional conditions imposed by the Indonesian government, which contradict the lifestyle and traditions of the Saudi society.