Recruitment costs for Indonesian domestic workers will drop Wednesday from SR8,000 to SR6,000, according to a memorandum of understanding between the National Committee for Recruitment and Indonesian authorities. Recruitment offices have completed documents and requirements with Indonesian contracting offices, said Eid Al-Muttairi, a member of the Recruitment Committee in the Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce. He said applications with the new prices started arriving several days ago after a recent period in which there were very few applications because citizens were waiting for the new prices to be implemented. Al-Muttairi said recruitment offices have approved an three-to-six-month extension of the deadline for the arrival of domestic workers who will work under the new contracts. He said the extension was provided because the lower fees are expected to result in a considerable increase in the number of transactions, which could cause delays in completing procedures for travel from Indonesia. Muhammad Hamad, the owner of a recruitment office, agreed that the lower fees will result in a substantial increase in the number of contracts. Although the fees will soon decrease, recruitment offices have received some new transactions in the last two days because some people want workers to arrive before Ramadan, he said.
