Jeddah, Jul 23 (Arab News): The Ministry of Labor and Social Development has temporarily suspended recruitment visas of single male domestic workers from Bangladesh, and has asked applicants to search for workers of other nationalities through the Mosaned website.

The permission to bring male domestic workers from other countries is still subject to recruitment controls and the marital status of the applicant. The ministry limited the recruitment of single non-Bangladeshi male employees to three categories only: drivers, household workers, and nurses, but is permitting non-singles to recruit male Bangladeshi domestic workers.

The ministry’s spokesman, Khalid Aba Al-Khail, said the recruitment of single Bangladeshi males to work as household workers by single men and women is temporarily suspended to give priority to other needed groups.

Unmarried applicants wishing to recruit male Bangladeshi household workers said some of their requests were repeatedly denied, despite being issued an application number. They were given the option of recruiting from other countries due to non-availability of visas from Bangladesh.

Last year, the ministry permitted the recruitment of male and female Bangladeshi domestic workers once again, after the practice had been suspended for nearly eight years.