Khayyat, the Kingdom's Ambassador to Indonesia, said the embassy there will never withdraw from a new agreement – which enters into enforcement from the beginning of this Ramadan – defining recruitment fees for Indonesian housemaids. He said the Saudi embassy has laid out a mechanism in collaboration with the Indonesian Union for Export of Workers that requires the unions to seal workers' lists they give to the embassy. “This will make it obligatory for the recruitment agents in Indonesia to abide by the fixed prices,” he said. Al-Khayyat urged Saudi citizens not to submit to pressure and exploitation by some agents and strictly abide by the recruitment fees, which are fixed at $1,200 (SR3,200), and called upon them to fully cooperate with the embassy. He also advised those who seek to employ maids against rushing to recruit them at any price because a number of recruitment offices have announced their rejection of the agreement, which was signed by the unions and the Saudi National Recruitment Committee. He said some recruitment offices have threatened that they will not receive recruitment applications from the Saudi recruitment offices. Indonesian recruitment offices could ask their Saudi counterparts to not send work visas under the pretext that the demand surpasses the supply and most Indonesian housemaids prefer to spend Ramadan in their country although the demand for the Indonesian house-helpers increases tremendously during the holy month. “And after Ramadan they will come up with the new excuse that the workers prefer to spend Eid Al-Adha with their families,” a source said. “This kind of pressure will leave some employers who are in a hurry with no choice but to submit to the demands of the Indonesian offices,” he said. Sources called on the service-seekers to be aware of these tricks and not submit pressure from the Indonesian offices. Chairman of the National Recruitment Committee Saad Al-Baddah urged Saudi recruitment offices to inform the organization about any agencies in Indonesia that refuse to receive the work visas. He said the NRC will tell the Saudi embassy in Jakarta to not issue cards to offices that do not commit to the agreement.
