A bachelor applying to hire a domestic worker in Saudi Arabia, must be at least 24 years old, according to government stipulations.

A government portal, responsible for the house labour affairs in the kingdom, said the would-be employer’s eligibility to issue a visa for a domestic worker will be verified as part of the process.

The client, wishing to recruit such a worker, is required to select his/her profession and nationality via the Ministry of Human Resources' Musaned platform and submit a related application specifying the recruitment office.

Consequently, the system would verify the applicant’s eligibility to get the required visa, and the recruitment office would present hire offers for the client to choose from and pay the recruitment cost.

Saudi labour authorities have recently sought to regulate the domestic labour market in the kingdom.

To this end, the Ministry of Human Resources launched Musaned to help customers learn about their rights and duties, and related services including visa issuance, recruitment requests and the contractual relationship between the employer and the worker.

The ministry has said it is necessary to conduct contracting via Musaned, being the official recruitment platform.

Last October, Saudi Arabia unveiled new rules for employing domestic workers, setting the worker’s minimum age at 21 years as part of efforts to preserve contractual rights.

The regulations note, among other things, that all dates in the domestic worker’s contract are calculated according to the Gregorian calendar unless the contract states otherwise, and invalidate any terms contradicting these rules unless they are more beneficial to the worker.

The regulations stress that the dues owed to the worker or his/her heirs are considered first-degree debts. The contract should have a fixed duration, and if not, it will be considered renewable for one year from the date the worker does the job.

According to the new rules, the house worker’s daily working hours are set at 10 hours and the employee is entitled to weekly paid successive 24-hour rest.

The employer is prohibited from withholding the domestic worker’s passport, other personal documents or belongings.

Domestic workers in Saudi Arabia include housekeepers, drivers, housemaids, cleaners, cooks, guards, farmers, live-in nurses, tutors and nannies.