THE initial batch of household service workers (HSWs) that will be deployed to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) are expected to fly out before Christmas Day, a recruitment consultant said yesterday.
In a statement, Emmanuel Geslani said the processing of the workers’ employment documents are already in the final stages.
“Hundreds of household service workers are ready to leave before Christmas Day as their recruitment agencies have submitted to the POEA (Philippine Oversea Employment Administration) the verified contacts from Saudi Arabia,” said Geslani.
The KSA employment market for Filipinos reopened in November 7 after the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) and the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLOs) in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Al-Khobar officially resumed the verification of new job contracts for Saudi-bound OFWs.
It came almost a year after former Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III issued a memorandum instructing the POLOs in Saudi Arabia to temporarily suspend the processing of employment contracts for OFWs.
Geslani said the expected HSW deployment before Christmas day is a sign of things to come by 2023.
“We expect at least 20,000 HSWs to be deployed in the first quarter of 2023 as the demand is very high for Filipino maids,” said Geslani.
Based on the latest data from the DMW, there are already 298 foreign employers and 169 recruitment agencies that have been included in the government’s “whitelist.”
The whitelist refers to the Philippine recruitment agencies, foreign recruitment agencies, and foreign employers and principals that will be allowed to participate in the recruitment and deployment of domestic workers and workers with vulnerable skill set to the KSA.
