The Philippine Embassy in Riyadh has compelled Saudi recruitment agencies to have visa applications filed for the recruitment of domestic helpers to be translated into English. The embassy began receiving applications for domestic workers on Sunday. The embassy has put emphasis on the commitment to the articles and instructions specified in the signed contract between the housemaid and employer.
Khaled Al-Abbad, a recruitment agency owner, said the embassy began receiving agency requests for approval of their applications before sending them to Manila to be processed, adding that the embassy had specified a quota of 10 applications a week for each agency and expected the approval to take about five days.
The embassy has stipulated that both the employer and the agency sign each copy of the contract document, aiming to have all parties abide by the various conditions in the document, including the $ 400 salary and the weekly day off. He expected the first group of workers to arrive in February, adding that some agency owners would travel to Manila this week to finalize procedures and complete all legal requirements themselves.
He said the process agencies undertake to obtain an endorsement from the embassy can take up to 30 days. For an agency to be officially registered with the embassy, it must go through several phases, including having official embassy forms on agency documents, having to sign undertakings for meeting all conditions in the contract and being responsible for workers’ complaints against employers as far as the embassy is concerned, he said.
A second phase, he added, would be interviews with each agency owner. The third includes an embassy delegation visiting the agencies to acquaint themselves with the employees and the agency’s location and the fourth is paying a one-time fee of SR 500 and having the endorsement certificate issued.
Conditions for applying for an endorsement include copies of the agency’s commercial registry, license, a map of the agency’s location, as well as a photograph of the owner. All copies must to be translated into English.
New group of Philippine maids to arrive in February
