The Saudi embassy in Indonesia is likely to issue 50,000 visas for housemaids, which were being processed before the Kingdom's ban on domestic workers from that country. Abdul Rahman Al-Khayat, Saudi Ambassador to Indonesia, said the Saudi embassy issues 1,000 visas a day, which have been approved by the Ministry of Labor (MOL) before the ban on all Indonesian housemaids. “The total number of visas to be issued by the embassy will exceed 50,000. The embassy has so far issued 92,000 visas since the beginning of the year until the end of the month of Rajab, almost 13,000 visas a day,” said Al-Khayat, in a telephonic interview with Al-Hayat Arabic daily. He said this is a small number compared to previous years. The ban on the issue of visas is not final and can be appealed if and when both parties reach a mutual agreement. The MOL decision to ban visas came after deliberations between MOL senior officials and other concerned authorities. “This is a prudent decision, especially in the light of the extremely hard conditions set by the Indonesian authorities,” said Al-Khayat. He said the Indonesian economy will sustain huge losses because there are 1.2 million Indonesian workers in the Kingdom who transfer SR7 billion a year to Indonesia.
