KUWAIT CITY, Oct 5: Following the issuance of Decree No. (174) of 2024, approving the Memorandum of Understanding for the employment of domestic workers between Kuwait and the Federal Region of Ethiopia, domestic worker affairs specialist, Bassam Al-Shammari, confirmed that after the decree's publication in the Official Gazette, local recruitment offices will wait for the Ministry of Interior to officially open visa applications for recruiting workers from Addis Ababa. He explained that once this happens, offices will begin the process of completing initial recruitment contracts, known as "job orders," from Ethiopia, with the actual recruitment expected to start soon.

Al-Shammari, in a statement to Al-Jarida, predicted strong demand from Kuwaiti and expatriate families for these workers, citing factors such as the low recruitment cost, which is under 750 dinars, and the limited number of countries supplying domestic workers to Kuwait. He highlighted the timely arrival of Ethiopian workers, as Kuwait currently relies on only two countries for domestic worker recruitment and faces restrictions on new Filipino workers, with only experienced ones allowed, leading to a loss of around 70 percent of the usual workforce.

He urged government agencies to fully address previous issues concerning the rights of domestic workers and strictly enforce laws to protect their rights, ensuring the smooth continuation of the recruitment process. Al-Shammari emphasized that Ethiopian workers represent the most immediate alternative to alleviate the shortage of domestic workers in Kuwait, noting that in 2013, the number of Ethiopian domestic workers in Kuwait reached around 76,000.