KUWAIT CITY, Nov 16: The domestic labor crisis is worsening day after day in light of the closure that Kuwait is undergoing, which has prevented the recruitment of workers, because of the repercussions of the measures aimed to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the cessation of the activities of licensed domestic workers offices. However, some fake offices are exploiting the current conditions, reports Al-Rai daily quoting informed sources.

They explained that these offices work to operate with the domestic workers who remain, perhaps in violation of the monthly wage system, without transferring that worker's visa to the sponsorship of the Kuwaiti citizen who wants to employ the worker in his home. There is also increasing talk about suspicions of human trafficking in the work of these offices.

The sources disclosed that the situation taking place is similar in form to "slave trade" happening through fake offices that circumvent the law and provide the housemaid with monthly amounts of up to KD 400.

They indicated that these offices take advantage of the lack of supply and the families' need by imposing a "royalty" along with the salary of the worker, adding that 30,000 residency transfers were recorded for workers during the crisis, and the fake offices are exploiting about 60,000 violating workers, most of whom are women.

The sources explained that these offices require the applicant who wants a domestic worker to agree to a monthly wage system, so that the worker receives her salary, which ranges between KD 100 and KD 120, and the office receives an amount between KD 150 and KD 200, based on the agreement between the two parties. This costs the head of a family up to KD 320 per month, in some cases, to pay for the worker and the domestic labor office.

Some of these offices are fake and exploit illegal workers to employ them and benefit from them to the maximum, in light of the suspension of recruitment and the Kuwaiti families’ need for domestic workers.