Hiring Help

I've read a lot about this and I think the best thing to do is just to hire 'live out' help, a woman who is here on her hubby's igama.  It sure eliminates a lot of headaches.

Its much easier and convenient to obtain male "live out" help. Females are still availabe and mey be more conducive if you are living within a western compound and she has transportation to get there nd iget back home.

Ive heard hiring from outside is dangerous. Most of them have run aways....women from the annual Hajj who stick around for jobs letting their visas expire (illegal aliens). Is there way to find someone there on their husbands iqama and hire them full time?

Whoever you hire, be they male or female, its gotta be done thru the grapevine via known folks. No one hires people off the street to work in homes here.

SF15

I live on a compound and after I moved in I had several maids knock on my door.  They lived on the compound and worked for other ex-pats, so we believe they are all above board and legal....  I interviewed a few then finally settled on a gal from another compound adjacent to this one.  We hired her as a full time live-in she and has been employed with us now for 6mo.  We are not her sponsor.

I heave heard many horror stories and thank my stars that we've been lucky so far.  The key for me, is to keep the relationship as business and not treat them as family.  This is a tough concept for me as I tend to treat everyone as one of my family members.

Many of the ex-pats hire domestic help through agencies and become their sponsor.   Ive heard this is the way to go, but for us, would tie us to one HM and Im not willing to do that, not to mention the time and cost it takes to get someone on board.  Many also hire married couples as housemaids/drivers which they say cuts down on domestic issues and runways.

Many of the compounds have housing for these workers right on the compound for about 100SAR a month.  This may be a better way to go and I haven't discounted the thought. 

As for being responsible for your help - yes, I guess you are to a degree.  My HM had to be hospitalized over night and because she has no health insurance, we had to pay  an upfront deposit and guarantee that we would be financially liable.   But at the end of the day, we couldn't think of anyone being in a position like that and not helping out. 

My HM has since paid us back in full for her services that weekend....  Sometimes you get lucky!

I would tell you that there are many local domestic workers who would be grateful to have a job, you just have to find the right person.

Good luck to you!

As long as you live within a western compound theres no issue. They are all avai;lable in plenty through the internal grapevine and reasonably reliable.

Forget about bringing permanent HM's from overseas. Its an absolute waste of time, money and effort. We did once and she only lasted 3 months. We had to even pay for her airfare to be repatriated back home even after we had paid up for Insurance. It was traumatic.

We now use male domestic help, 2 hours per day, 5 days per week from our locality. He is Bangladeshi and is employed at the nearby Mosque as a full time cleaner and hence is free between prayer times.

Hi everyone.  I am Researching Saudi in order to make a positive career move.  While reading the threads I saw the word iqama?  Could someone please define igama for me?  Are maids necessary?  Who takes care of the children in the compounds?

1John - Welcome to the forum!  This is a great site to gather info on your potential move, but again I ask why KSA? 

The igama is your residence visa.  If you are living & working here in the country, you are required to have one.  Its issued after you arrive and surrender your passport to your sponsor.

Housemaids are very popular here in the country, but no, you don't need to hire one.   

If you are working, then hiring a nanny or housemaid to assist with taking care of the children would be a good idea.  The compounds are very secure, so if your children are of the age where they can move about without your supervision, they should be fine just about anywhere on the compound. 

Hope this helps!