The Musaned portal, under the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, has suspended all requests to issue visas for Filipino domestic workers effective from this week, officials of a number of local recruitment offices have confirmed. This is in the wake of the Philippines Ministry of Labor’s recent decision to suspend temporarily sending of its domestic workers to Saudi Arabia, they said.Speaking to Okaz/Saudi Gazette, Hakeem Al-Khunaizi said that Musaned has frozen all applications for new labor contracts and visas of Filipino domestic workers since five days ago. The door for new contracts and visas will be opened only if the Philippines reconsider the decision to send workers, he said. Al-Khunaizi said that the cost of bringing in Filipino domestic workers ranged between SR21,000 and SR22,000 and this included value-added tax, while the cost for the transfer of service of a domestic worker between two employers ranges between SR25000 and SR30000, he said while noting that the transfer of service requires the approval of domestic workers. Dr. Saleh Al-Qahtani, another investor, said that there has been an increase in the number of requests for male Filipino professional workers. He also noted that the procedures of the domestic help visas issued earlier are moving very slowly from the part of the Philippines’ side, and some transactions take between three and four months. The Philippines embassy in Riyadh noted that the suspension of recruitment process was consequent to the adoption of the new regulations issued by the Ministry of Labor governing the contractual relationship between Filipino domestic workers and their foreign employers. It is noteworthy that the Musaned is the portal launched by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development to deal with hiring of domestic workers.