Good news to Filipino household service workers who wants to work in Saudi Arabia. Less than a year after issuing a deployment ban, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is ready to issue work visas to Filipino household service workers again. Furthermore, Saudi also increased the minimum salary to USD400 or SR1,500.

This development is the result of a new memorandum of agreement that was recently signed by the governments of Saudi and the Philippines.

The new agreement entitles household workers from the Philippines to the following benefits: rest day once a week, an annual vacation for at least 30 days, free airfare to home country, decent housing and adequate food or allowance for both.

The new agreement also specified that Saudi employers should treat their household workers with respect and to avoid making them work for another household. The employers are also required to shoulder all the visa-related fees of the household’s workers.

The agreement also states that Saudi employers should open a bank account for the household worker as this is where the salary will deposited.

Saudi Arabia imposed a deployment ban on Filipino and Indonesian household workers last year because of the stricter conditions that were set by the two countries.