RIYADH — Saudi Arabia will resume recruitment of Filipino workers, including domestic workers, from Monday, Nov. 7. The upper limit of fee for the recruitment of domestic workers from the Philippines has been fixed at SR17288. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development urged all the companies and offices that provide mediation services for the recruitment of domestic workers to strictly comply with the price ceiling announced by it. "This is to avoid the penalties stipulated in the regulations of the Labor Law with regard to the recruitment activity and offering of labor services," said Saad Al Hammad, spokesman of the ministry. Speaking to Okaz/Saudi Gazette, the spokesman explained the approved maximum ceiling of recruitment fees for workers from various nationalities. These include SR9500 for Ugandan nationals; SR10000 for Thailand; SR10,870 for Kenya and SR13,000 for Bangladesh. Saudi Arabia and the Philippines signed a memorandum of cooperation (MoC) on Sept. 13 on the resumption of sending Filipino workers to the Kingdom, including domestic workers, starting from Nov. 7, 2022. The agreement was signed by Minister of Human Resources and Social Development Eng. Ahmed Al-Rajhi and the Secretary of the Philippines Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Susan Ople. The memorandum comes as a continuation of the bilateral and historical relations between the Kingdom and the Philippines, and an extension of the permanent cooperation between the two countries in many economic aspects. It also reflects the compatibility of MHRSD's vision with the vision of the Ministry of Migrant Workers in the Philippines in protecting the human rights aspects of workers. The Filipino side praised the qualitative leap in the Saudi labor market in return for the initiatives and substantial reforms witnessed by the market that led to strengthening the protection of migrant workers per the fundamental and technical principles of ILO and the UN Global Compact on Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration. In view of the above, the two countries reached an agreement to resume sending Filipino workers to Saudi Arabia as of November 7, 2022. It is noteworthy that the Musaned portal, under the MHRSD, suspended in December 2021 all requests to issue visas for Filipino domestic workers. This was in the wake of the Philippines Ministry of Labor's decision to temporarily suspend sending of its domestic workers to Saudi Arabia.
