Kuwait to ‘restart stamping’ visas of Lankan domestics

KUWAIT CITY : The Kuwait embassy in Colombo will soon restart stamping visas of Sri Lankan domestic workers, a source told the Arab Times on condition of anonymity. This came after Kuwait last month stopped stamping visas of Sri Lankan workers even as it was not clear what prompted the move. It may be recalled that India and Kuwait were also locked in a visa row and the stand-off came to an end after India adopted a labour contract based on Kuwaiti model. Meanwhile, a senior official at the Sri Lankan Labour Ministry told the Arab Times that his country has not taken "any measure to stop sending Sri Lankan maids to Kuwait." The official, who requested his name not be used, was reacting to news reports which said the Sri Lankan government had stopped exporting domestic manpower to Kuwait after complaints of abuse witnessed an increase.

The official added: "At the moment we are in the process of upgrading the quality of our domestic workforce." Like many other countries, Sri Lankan has a set a minimum wage of KD 60 to its domestic workers but recruitment agencies are continuing to pay them KD 45, according to Manpower Recruitment Agencies. Kuwait is the only country among the GCC which has insurance and legal cover for domestic maids and the government is also planning to build a permanent shelter for runaway maids. Last week, Sri Lanka said that it wants to reduce the number of maids it sends to the Middle East owing to a rise in complaints by overseas women workers.