Saudi Gazette report JEDDAH — As the holy month of Ramadan approaches and illegal expatriate domestic helpers frantically rush to correct their statuses, the apparent lack of housemaids has caused a wave of panic among housewives in the Kingdom. “Every year, there is a frantic rush to find housemaids before Ramadan, but this year the situation is worse,” said a worried housewife who wished to remain anonymous. “My Indonesian housemaid promised to come back after getting her iqama but it's been a month now and I have no clue where she has disappeared to.” Several housewives have complained that their maids are running away either to sort out their iqamas or in search of better salaries, and the few that are available to work in Ramadan are charging exorbitant salaries and have a long list of demands. While the average salary rate of housemaids ranges from SR1,800 to SR2,000, the high domestic workload in the holy month combined with the lack of available maids has raised the demand for wages up to an average of SR2,800, especially for labor with legal work permits. Indonesian housemaid Haleema (name changed) has been working in the Kingdom without a legal work permit for the past eight years and finally got her iqama last week after several days of waiting outside her consulate. She told Saudi Gazette: “I was forced to secretly flee from my employer because they wouldn't let me go otherwise. “And now with my legal documents I can charge extra in the Ramadan season since being an iqama holder is an added advantage for me.” A group of housemaids standing outside the Indonesian Consulate waiting to get legal work permits told Saudi Gazette that they have all fled from their employers to legalize their status and have been coming here every week. When asked if they would go back to their employers or find new ones, they said it would depend on the wages offered. Summa, another housemaid, has been overwhelmed with calls from families seeking her services for Ramadan over the last month, but she prefers to negotiate her demands and conditions before accepting any offer. She said: “I refuse to work for less than SR2,800 if there are more than three children in the family. “Also, I would want a separate room, no smokers in the house and at least eight hours of sleep when fasting.” Ali, a private housemaid broker, said the deficiency of domestic helpers has intensified in the past few months mainly because of several South Asians leaving the Kingdom due to crackdown on illegal labor. “This is the time (pre-Ramadan) when demand for the housemaids is highest and unfortunately these days, their supply is lowest, which is causing panic among households.” He added that he was surprised to find out about the high level of demand for housemaids when he received calls from housewives who were ready to pay as much as SR150 a day during Ramadan.
