The Shoura (Consultative) Council on Monday urged the Ministry of Labor to take necessary steps, in coordination with the concerned agencies, to allow Saudi citizens to hire housemaids from other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states through recruitment firms operating in those countries. The Shoura session, chaired by the council President Sheikh Abdullah Al-Asheikh, also called on the ministry to address the issue of high charges of hiring foreign workers, especially domestic help, in line with an earlier directive from the Council of Ministers, according to Yahya Al-Samaan, assistant president of the council. He said that the council took the decision after examining the report of the committee for administration and human resources, read out by its Chairman Muhammad Al-Naqadi. The council also underlined the need for reviewing and developing the criteria and mechanism for issuing visas in a flexible way so as to achieve a balance between the actual demand and supply in the labor market. It also called for evaluation of the Nitaqat Saudization program in a way making available of more jobs for Saudis, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The Shoura approval came after considering the huge demand for housemaids in the local market. The cost of hiring housemaids has become exorbitant in the Kingdom when compared with other countries in the Mideast region and this has resulted in the flourishing of black market run by expatriate brokers. There are also several illegal firms engaged in hiring domestic help and the citizens need to pay up to SR30,000 for the recruitment. It was pointed out that charges for hiring domestic help are around four times higher than that of the rates existing in other GCC states. Penalty against 12,256 firms Meanwhile, the Ministry of Labor has stopped computer services for as many as 12,256 firms for various violations during the last Hijri year of 1436. Inspectors from the ministry carried out 142,600 inspection raids in various provinces and governorates across the Kingdom. The inspectors detected a total of 35,350 labor law violations.
