THE government on Monday lifted the ban on women migrant workers’ departure to four Gulf countries but aspirants will have to follow set conditions to go there. Though Kuwait already had a standard for migrant workers, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar had no such provision and thus were a no-no for women migrant workers citing security reasons. Despite the ban, many brokers have been illegally shipping women on visit visa to these countries. When the government could not check the flow of such workers, it took this step. According to embassies, about 200,000 women migrant workers reside in Gulf countries. The labour ministry said the four embassies have set a standard on minimum wage, insurance, socio-economic status of the employer and social security, among others.

Embassies in 4 nations are said to have set standards of wage, insurance and social security of worker