12,000 visas issued to Vietnamese workers

RIYADH: The Saudi mission in Bangkok has issued about 12,000 visas to Vietnamese workers for the Kingdom, Al-Watan daily reported on Friday.
The visas were issued in Thailand because the mission in Vietnam started functioning only recently.
“Visas are issued to Vietnamese men and women to work as masons, welders, carpenters, farm laborers, fishermen and heavy-vehicle drivers, in addition to domestic hands,” Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s National Committee for Recruitment, an affiliate of the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce Saad Al-Baddah told the daily in a statement.
“The reason for tapping the labor resources in Vietnam is because the workers of that country are preferred by many Saudis,” Al-Baddah said.
Vietnamese are peace loving and generally averse to committing crimes, the chairman added.
On a question about the measures adopted to prevent workers with criminal back ground getting into the Kingdom, the official said: “The Saudi missions in foreign countries insist that the workers to whom they issue visas should produce certificates showing that they do not have criminal background,” he said. Regarding the wages to be paid to Vietnamese workers Al-Baddah said, “Their wages would vary depending on the trade. It may vary between SR1, 200 and SR1,300 for masons, smiths and carpenters while an ordinary male laborer would be paid SR900 and women worker SR750.”
He also said attempts are being made to import nurses of both sexes from that country. He added that the committee would explore the possibility of recruitment from three or four other countries after the month of Ramadan.
Indonesia used to be one of the main suppliers of domestic workers in the past.

ARAB NEWS