Saudi Arabia — one of the popular foreign job destinations among Nepali migrant workers — has been facing an acute shortage of housemaid after the largest source country, the Philippines, stopped sending women workers last year.

The country in the Persian peninsula has been hiring Nepali and Ethiopian women to fill the shortage but most Nepali migrant women workers are reaching the destination through illegal channels.

“Agents have been recruiting Nepali and Ethiopian women as domestic helps,” The Saudi Gazette reported, adding that the country of 1.5 million domestic helps still needs over 200,000 domestic workers to fulfill the demand.

Everyday, about 60-70 Nepali women reach the Gulf countries via Indian cities, New Delhi and Mumbai, and half of them are hired in Saudi Arabia itself.

The government has introduced a strict criterion for hiring Nepali women but a nexus between agents based in India and Nepal are sending women violating the criterion.

“Agents are sending Nepali women to Saudi Arabia through illegal channels,” said ambassador of Nepal to Saudi Arabia Udaya Raj Pandey.

On the request of the Nepali government, Indian authorities have already arrested about 3,000 Nepali women in New Delhi and Mumbai immigration offices as they were about to depart for Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabian authorities had warned of stopping hiring Nepali workers if India does not provide a safe passage to the arrested women to join domestic help jobs in the country.

The Foreign Employment Act of Nepal states that migrants not flying from the country’s only international airport, Tribhuwan International Airport, are illegal. Foreign job permits from the Department of Foreign Employment is mandatory to join foreign jobs.

About 400,000 Nepalis are believed to be working in Saudi Arabia but only 2,504 Nepali women have reached the destination through official channels in the last one-and-a-half decade. However, UN Women has estimated that there are more than 63,000 Nepali women migrant workers in the destination.

The Philippines had stopped sending women workers to Saudi Arabia in early 2010 demanding their safety and a hike in salary. The largest source country for domestic helps in Gulf countries—– Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman — has been demanding at least $400 (Rs 31,600) salary to lift the ban. However, Nepali women have been working in the destination at a very low salary of $150 (Rs 11,850).

According to The Saudi Gazette, the Saudi government is desperately looking to hire Filipino housemaid in the near future. “The Labour Ministry is planning to sign a special agreement to hire Filipino housemaid within the next couple of months,” the news paper reported.

Published on: 7 February 2012 | The Himalayan Times