Abu Dhabi: On average, roughly 100 Indian housemaids are coming to the UAE every month after getting clearance from Indian emigration authorities, a senior Indian official told Gulf News.
Indians holding Emigration Clearance Required [ECR] passports require emigration clearance to leave the country on an employment visa. India issues ECR passports to those who have not passed Grade 10. The Indian Emigration authorities verify the terms and conditions of the job to protect the workers’ rights before giving the clearance. Compliance of conditions imposed by India in February 2008 for the recruitment of housemaids are a prerequisite to give emigration clearance to leave India.
As 75 per cent of the employers of Indian housemaids are Indian expatriates in the UAE, the major impact of the Indian regulations was on the Indian community itself, said Anand Bardan, Counsellor-Community Welfare at the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi. Of the remaining 25 per cent employers, many of them are Emiratis and rest of them other nationals, he said.
Almost all housemaids coming after Indian emigration clearance are directly recruited by the employers without the help of any recruitment agencies.
According to 2008 regulations, India increased the minimum wage for Indian housemaids from Dh600 to Dh1,100. Conditions also demand that the minimum monthly income of the employer be Dh10,000, a security deposit or bank guarantee for Dh9,200 must be made (if the housemaid is recruited directly from India) and there must be an Indian guarantor. The prospective housemaid also has to be above 30 years old and she has to be given a mobile phone within two weeks of her arrival in the UAE. The employer and the housemaid have to visit the embassy or consulate to register her mobile phone number and address within two weeks.
The fact that the embassy receives almost no complaints from housemaids coming with Indian emigration clearance suggest that the regulations serve their purpose, Bardan said.
“It has been proved that these conditions have acted as a strong deterrent against any possible abuse,” he said.
But to bypass the Indian regulations, some employers bring the housemaids on visit visa and transfer to them to employment visa after they reach in the UAE. Those who leave on visit visa do not need emigration clearance and hence need not comply the Indian regulations on housemaid recruitment. Interestingly, the embassy receives around 10 complaints a month from housemaids, mostly who have left India by bypassing Indian regulations, Bardan explained.
The embassy comes to know about such housemaids when they come with complaints as Indian Emigration authorities have recorded them, he said.
The recruitment agents and social workers told Gulf News that the number of Indian housemaids coming to the UAE went down drastically since the 2008 Indian regulations came into effect.
