Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – Saudi Arabia’s decision to lift institutional quarantine for foreign arrivals has contributed to bringing down the cost of hiring house workers by up to 3,500 Saudi riyals (about 933 U.S. dollars), according to sources in the recruitment market.

Speaking to Okaz/Saudi Gazette, the sources confirmed that the recruitment bill would be decreased by between 2,200 riyals and 3,500 riyals after Saudi authorities scrapped the requirement of institutional quarantine for all foreigners arriving in the Kingdom without taking two doses of vaccine in Saudi Arabia.

The sources stated that the recruitment offices were deliberately raising the recruitment bill on their whim after the decision of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development to apply institutional quarantine on all house workers as soon as they entered the Kingdom.

They noted that the period of institutional quarantine at one of the approved hotels began with 10 days earlier and then reduced to seven days and later to five days.

Musaned, the electronic portal for hiring domestic workers, has not made any changes in the costs of recruiting house workers from various nationalities except for adding the value of the institutional quarantine. However, the costs of institutional quarantine varied from one country to another, ranging from 2,200 riyals to 3,500 riyals, the sources said.

They noted that the cost of the recruitment of Ugandan domestic workers with institutional quarantine was between 12,700 riyals (some 3,385 dollars) and 13,000 riyals (some 3,465 dollars) while the rates for Sri Lankan workers rose to 29,300 riyals (some 7,809 dollars) and for Filipino workers to 23,200 (some 6,190 dollars).

The sources indicated that the Philippine Airlines and Sri Lankan Airlines included in the provisions of contract the addition of the fee for institutional quarantine at three- or five-star hotels.

Dr. Saleh Al-Qahtani, an investor in the recruitment field, said the Ministry of Interior’s decision to lift institutional quarantine for those coming to the Kingdom directly reflected on the costs of recruiting domestic workers.

Another investor, Hakim Al-Khunaizi, pointed out that the costs of institutional quarantine were not added to the contracts concluded through Musaned, but employers had to bear it as an additional cost.

Reporting by Indonesia Window