Saudi Gazette report JEDDAH — A new electronic service enabling individuals to apply for and recruit foreign manpower is expected to be launched next week as part of the Ministry of Labor's Musaned (support) program, a source at the ministry said. “The service will enable individuals to recruit foreign manpower electronically without visiting the labor office,” Al-Eqtisadiah business daily quoted the source as saying on Tuesday. He said the employer will have to register his data and pay the fees through the ATM. After checking the data, a visa will be issued to him in a record short period of time, he added. The source said the ministry is working to make the recruitment process fast and convenient. He said the ministry is launching the new service for individuals after finalizing the electronic recruitment process for corporates. Tayseer Al-Mofrej, director of the ministry's media center, said, “The electronic recruitment process will reduce time.” He said the ministries of labor and foreign affairs are working together to expedite the process of hiring housemaids and to find new markets for recruitment. The Ministry of Labor has started giving permission to six recruitment companies to issue 1.2 million visas to hire housemaids, laborers, drivers and other workers for occupations needed in the Saudi market. These visas include the countries from which recruitment of workers is allowed. They include Bangladesh, India, Philippines, Morocco, Tanzania, Uganda, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Mauritania. A source disclosed that there are more than two million applications from citizens for the recruitment of domestic workers. The six recruitment companies will recruit domestic workers under their sponsorship and will bear the fees for medical insurance. They will then make the workers available to citizens under an annual contract of SR24,000 which can be renewed according to the agreement of both parties. The contract fee decreases after the first year. According to new regulations issued by the Ministry of Labor, housemaids will constitute 25 percent of the total foreign manpower to be recruited from countries which send domestic help to the Kingdom. The new regulation became effective on June 1 and it is one of the measures taken to address the delay in the recruitment of housemaids to meet the growing demand in the local market. The ministry noted that one of the reasons for the delay in hiring housemaids was that recruitment firms were giving priority to male workers.
