KUWAIT: Some domestic help offices have closed down temporarily due to their inability to receive applications for new domestic helpers due to the Philippine ban, as the market seems to be suffering from a shortage in housemaids except for those from Sri Lanka, Al-Qabas daily reported yesterday. Although the Philippines has stopped sending domestic help to Kuwait after a maid was killed by her sponsor, official statistics from the domestic help department said workers of this nationality are less likely to face deportation.

Meanwhile, the department's statistics show that the number of complaints lodged by Filipina domestic helpers dropped to 33 percent last year compared to 36 percent of annual complaints in 2018. The statistics showed Filipina workers were filing at least 400 complaints per year in average, and were the largest group compared to 14 other nationalities, but the average dropped to 121 cases among total 3,226 cases filed in 2019.

Separately, Al-Jarida daily quoted sources at the manpower authority who said that about 50 percent of the total violating labor arrested last year were domestic helpers holding article 20 residency permits in violation of law 6/2010, which was issued with regards to work in the private sector. They said after arresting those workers, legal action was taken and they were deported from the country.

The sources said the manpower authority's board of directors will soon discuss views to impose strict punishments against private sector employers who allow domestic helpers to work for them in violation of the law. They said the authority plans to ban violating employers from bringing workers from abroad and even local sponsorship, and will be placed on the backlist.