Saudi Arabia to Scrap Housemaid Recruitment Agencies: Ministry of Labor

Image Caption: Saudi Arabia plans to shut down recruitment offices of housemaids. (AFP/ File)

The Saudi Ministry of Labor is planning to complete all formalities for the recruitment of housemaids electronically through its Musaned online service, business daily Al-Eqtisadiah reported on Saturday quoting deputy minister Ahmed Al-Humaidan.

“There will be no need for the recruitment offices any more,” he said adding that the electronic recruitment of housemaids will end the problems that usually happen between the offices and the customers.

Humaidan said the recruitment cost will also be paid through Musaned via a system called “the financial intermediary”.

“The intermediary will transfer 25 percent of the cost to the recruitment office in the country exporting housemaids and will remit the balance after all the recruitment procedures have been completed,” he said.

Humaidan did not reveal when this new service will start functioning but said it is aimed at protecting the rights of both the customers and the recruitment offices.

“The contracts will be signed electronically,” he added.

Musaned was established in 2014 for the electronic recruitment of house helps. It also lists all the rights and duties of the housemaids and the employers.

Humaidan said a delegation from the ministry is currently touring a number of housemaid exporting countries to explain the new system of recruitment.

“Musaned will stop the involvement of brokers,” he said.

He said recruitment offices in exporting countries will be chosen through Musaned.

Musaned electronic service also contains the names of service providers in and outside the Kingdom for the clients to choose from.

(Source: Albawaba.com)