Employers will be obliged to pay monthly salaries of between SR600 and SR800 to their foreign domestic workers, said Saad Al-Badah, chairman of the national recruitment committee at the Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The cost of recruitment will be in the vicinity of SR15,000 to SR17,000. “These are estimates. Costs might differ based on the charges of recruitment offices abroad,” Al-Badah was quoted as saying in a section of the Arabic press Saturday. Al-Badah said that recruitment companies are expected to provide services soon to clients. The new recruitment companies will cut out illegal brokers who have constantly been raising their charges. He said the last decision of the recruitment committee was to reduce recruitment costs from SR9,000 to SR6,000. The recruitment fees citizens pay to recruitment companies will be inclusive of visa fees, two-year medical insurance, one-way ticket, residence permit fees for two years and a medical checkup, he explained. If domestic workers refuse to work or run away from their sponsors during the two-year period, recruitment companies will compensate sponsors, he said. “Currently citizens pay large amounts of money, up to SR20,000 in some cases, to get a domestic worker or a driver and they don't get any guarantees in return.” Runaway cases among domestic workers are expected to decline by 80 percent once mega recruitment companies start operating, he added. “Besides, citizens are not obligated to deal with the 13 recruitment companies because they have other options. They can either go to a recruitment office or personally recruit labor.” The Ministry of Labor has given licenses to 13 companies to prevent any form of monopoly, with current recruitment offices continuing to operate. Fierce competition is expected in the industry, he said.
