DAMMAM: National recruitment offices have raised fees for Indonesian domestic workers by SR2,000 to reach SR8,000, aside from SR2,000 visa fees. The move pronounces the death of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the Indonesian authorities and the National Committee for Recruitment, which had set the charges at SR8,000 of which SR6,000 are recruitment charges and SR2,000 as a visa fee, officials said. Hussein Al-Mutairi, a member of the Recruitment Committee in the Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry, confirmed that 80 percent of the national offices in the Kingdom have started implementing the new charges while some offices are demanding the difference in charges from the clients for old transactions. He pointed out that the increase in charges has come in response to the pressures exerted by brokers during the past period resulting in raising the wages for domestic workers to SR2,250 to bring the total costs to SR6,000 compared to SR4,500 according to the memorandum signed between Indonesian authorities and the National Committee for Recruitment, with an increase of SR1,500. Al-Mutairi said the increase in charges would not streamline the arrival of domestic helpers in the Kingdom within the near future, as their arrival is still facing numerous obstacles, and the delays could reach six months. He said recruitment offices have amended contracts so they include clauses raising the time ceiling for the arrival of domestic workers to six to eight months. Al-Mutairi expects a breakthrough in the Indonesian domestic workers crisis during the coming period, after the national offices succumbed to many pressures exerted by brokers, who dragged their feet in providing workers needed by contracting offices that deal with the national offices, with the aim of raising the charges to previous levels. The Saudi Embassy in Jakarta, which completes no more than 200 transactions per day, used to complete 2,000 per day, a clear indication of a real crisis in the availability of domestic workers due to pressures exerted by brokers to make more money and nullify the memorandum that specifies the wages for each housemaid as SR750, Al-Mutairi said. He pointed out that over the least several months, the number of visa transactions waiting to be completed has reached 110,000. Al-Mutairi called on authorities to find other sources for domestic workers in order to break Indonesia's monopoly over the Saudi market. The crisis necessitates serious action to do so and prevent pressures the Kingdom is subjected to due to its great reliance on Indonesian domestic workers, he added.
