More and more Nepali workers are taking jobs in the service sector in the Eastern Province. Since Saudi Arabia opened up recruiting workers from Nepal, a trend has developed that could tilt the balance of foreign workers in the Kingdom, possibly even dislodging Filipinos, who are still very much entrenched in the service industry. The Saudi Ministry of Labor is issuing more visas to Nepali workers. “The labor office is right in giving more visas to Nepalis and Filipinos, because they are more suitable for the service sector,” said Ali Al-Gahtani, who owns several restaurants in Dammam and Khobar. “About eight more Filipinos are arriving to complement my Nepali workers.” Among the new arrivals is Santosh, a young, articulate, English-speaking Nepali. “I arrived about four months ago, along with 12 others, to take this job as a restaurant waiter,” he said, adding that the number of Nepalis heading for jobs in the Gulf region is increasing. “I think that here in Saudi Arabia there might be 50,000 Nepali workers working in restaurants, hotels, and malls,” said Santosh. He said that unlike in other countries, where workers are forced to pay abnormally high recruitment fees, the expense for a Nepali to get a job in the Kingdom is still reasonable. He added that he only paid SR2,200 for the air ticket. Santosh said his sponsor, who owns a fried chicken chain, paid all the recruitment expenses. Santosh makes SR1,000 a month, without any food or accommodation. “This (his pay) is okay with me,” he said. “It is much better than what other foreign workers are getting.” The Kingdom is now the fourth favorite destination of Nepalis leaving for overseas jobs, next only to Malaysia, the UAE and Qatar, according to the reports of the Nepali Department of Labor. During the last 10 months, the number of Nepali workers in the Kingdom reached 26,350, an increase of 21 percent from the same period last year. __
