SR35,000 bank balance ‘a must’ to hire one maid

JEDDAH: The Ministry of Labor has reiterated that employers seeking to hire domestic workers must meet several criteria to qualify, including cash in the bank and no unpaid traffic fines.

These are some of the stipulations that the ministry has highlighted after complaints from employers that their online applications for visas were rejected, a local publication reported recently.
The ministry said the poor financial status of applicants was one of the main reasons for rejecting applications. The other reasons include missing or unclear documents, seeking too many visas, not paying the SR2,000 application fee, and not providing bank statements as proof of income and savings.
The ministry said that to hire one maid a prospective employer must earn at least SR5,000 a month, and have at least a bank balance of SR35,000 over the six months before the application was submitted.
For a second visa, the employer must earn at least SR18,000 and have SR120,000 in the bank.
For the fourth visa, the minimum salary must be at SR30,000 and a bank balance of SR250,000. There is no salary requirement stipulated for a fifth visa, but the applicant must have SR500,000 in the bank.
The ministry said that the number of active visas of an applicant is taken into account whenever new applications are made. It said that non-Saudi families can recruit domestic workers by verifying their salaries, whether they are married or single, and over 25 years of age.