Sponsors to pay for return tickets of absconding maids

Dubai: Sponsors will have to start paying for return tickets of their domestic helpers who abscond, an Interior Ministry official said on Monday.

Residency and naturalisation authorities have asked sponsors, who go to report their absconding housemaids, to deposit the cost of their return tickets as well, said the Interior Ministry official.

"The Ministry has cancelled a recent decision which forced absconding housemaids to pay for their own return tickets. As per the new instructions, the sponsors will have to pay for the tickets whenever they want to report an absconding domestic helper," explained the official.

On the other hand, residents have expressed their concerns to Gulf News and called on the concerned authorities to reconsider the new instructions 'because it increases their financial burdens'.

They also asked the authorities to allow the sponsor to withhold a two-month salary which could be used to cover the return tickets in case the housemaid absconds.

The matter recently surfaced after several of the country's jails were crammed with absconded housemaids who were arrested and failed to pay for their tickets.

"Some of the domestic helpers get financial help from their friends or relatives but many of them are penniless and cannot afford to pay for their tickets," concluded the official.

Commenting on the issue, Brigadier Mohammad Ahmad Al Merri, Director General of Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department said most sponsors who come to file absconding cases against their domestic helper in Dubai 'often bring with them money to cover the return ticket in case of arresting the housemaid'.