Gulf countries have become the second option for maids who prefer to work in other states on account of getting better perks and facilities.
The Minister of Labour, Jameel Humaidan, said in a written answer to a parliamentary question that maids prefer other countries far from the region because of privileges they are receiving there. He said that there are 93 licensed recruitment agencies in Bahrain and fees they are charging on clients depend on paperwork and procedures they have to complete.
Because of the high cost of recruitment agencies, families in Bahrain opt for illegal means to hire maids. After complete and partial ban of domestic workers by certain countries during unrest in March, recruitment agencies hiked their fees to around BD700 for maids from subcontinent states and around BD1,000 from Filipino and Indonesian maids. Most families couldn’t afford such hike and are either seeking unofficial recruitment agencies run mostly by expatriates or ask maids in the neighbourhoods to bring their relatives to Bahrain.
The official recruitment agencies defended the hike as the only option to protect their businesses. The profit from supplying each maid is much less than before as most of the amount goes for finalising paperwork in Bahrain and home country of the maid, medical checkup and air ticket.
Bahrain has high demand for maids. According to the Ministry of Labour, 16,203 visa applications for domestic workers were submitted from April to June, of which 13,709 were approved. Of total approved applications, 10,596 were submitted to hire maids while the ministry received 10,197 applications from January to March this year.
Photo grabbed from: http://www.visualphotos.com/image/1x8276333/bahrain_financial_harbour_buildings_at_dusk_manama
Maids in great demand in Bahrain
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