DAMMAM – Many Saudis have expressed dismay over the rising number of newly recruited housemaids who are being sent home by passport officials from the airport because they were not old enough. They said this act has caused them much trouble and financial loss. However, passport officials said they sent back only underage housemaids after they had arrived in the Kingdom, Al-Yaum newspaper reported. Nasser Al-Otaibi, a citizen, said passport officials at Dammam's King Fahd International Airport sent back a maid he had hired from Ethiopia. He said: “I had directly gone to Ethiopia and completed all the necessary recruitment procedures through the Saudi Embassy in Addis Ababa but the passport officials sent her back even without informing me.
“When I contacted the officials, they said the reason was that her age did not match the age mentioned in the passport.” Officials did not tell him what method they used to check her age, he said. “The housemaid was sent back on board the same flight in which she came three hours after her arrival.” Another citizen recalled a similar experience he had a few days ago. He said: “The passport officials sent back my housemaid from Ethiopia, claiming her age was less than the one recorded in her passport. “The reckless way officials determine the age of the housemaid without using standard and scientific means is highly surprising.” He said scientific methods to determine the age of a person required the involvement of medical specialists and would take a long time. He urged authorities to stop such practices. Maj. Emad Abdul Qader, spokesman for the Eastern Province Passport Department, said housemaids are sent back for genuine reasons. “The officials would take such actions only after completing a set of procedures. “In case we have any suspicion about the actual age of any housemaid and the age recorded in her passport, then she would undergo medical tests.” He said there were cases where housemaids had admitted that their actual age was less than the age recorded in their passports. Meanwhile, a source at the Saudi Embassy in Addis Ababa said the highest number of incidents involving underage housemaids who were sent back occur at King Fahd International Airport in Dammam more than any other Saudi airport.
