Kuwait City: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MOCI) issued a decision to reduce the recruitment cost for domestic workers hired through recruitment agencies to 890 Kuwaiti dinars, local media reported.
The fee has been reduced by 100 Kuwaiti dinars, as the set price for all recruitment agencies was 990 Kuwaiti dinars prior to the decision.
As for those that are hired directly by the employer, the recruitment cost is set at 390 Kuwaiti dinars, which includes the ticket price and institutional quarantine.
To ensure transparency, the Assistant Undersecretary for Commercial Control and Consumer Protection, Eid Al Rashidi, urged all citizens and residents to report any increase of price via the 135 hotline or the complaints department WhatsApp number (55135135).
New costs
Al Rashidi stated that those who violate the decision will be charged with a penalty.
The decision was issued after recruitment agencies requested that the recruitment cost of domestic workers’ increase by 50 per cent (around 1,400 to 1,500 Kuwaiti dinars).
One of the reasons they want the cost to go up is because recruitment offices in the host countries have added new costs to their services, which affects the overall cost of the recruitment process.
Another factor is that now all domestic workers entering Kuwait need to conduct several PCR tests and must be quarantined in a hotel or accommodation, all of which are extra costs.
In addition, ticket prices have gone up and the process of re-booking of flights happens more frequently due to several lockdown and travel restriction measures enforced in Kuwait and in the host country.
Local offices
The most common way for domestic workers to enter Kuwait is through recruitment agencies that partner with local offices in the host country to assist with logistics and administrative affairs.
The largest nationality of domestic workers that come to work in Kuwait are Filipinos, making up 60 per cent of total domestic workers, Bassam Al Shammari, owner of a domestic workers’ company said.
