KATHMANDU: Saudi Arabia will start immediate deportation of illegal housemaids whose case cannot be solved within 25 days of detention, Saudi Times has reported. Around 60 illegal housemaids enter the government-run social welfare centre every week seeking help. Illegal housemaids will be deported at the expense of the Saudi government, said a welfare officer of Ministry of Interior (MoI). “MoI has started forwarding those cases to the deportation centre who have spent 25 days at social welfare centres,” he said. The government initiated this move, considering the fact that social care centres were always crowded. At the Dammam social welfare centre, for example, there are always over 200 detained housemaids awaiting deportation. Housemaids who are not fetched by their employers or recruitment agencies after their arrival in the Kingdom are also sent to social welfare centres. Of late, the number of housemaids running away from their employers or seeking help and protection of the police has been increasing. According to the Expatriate Monitoring Department (EMD), there are around 33,000 illegal women migrant workers living in Mecca area of Saudi Arabia alone. Around 20,000 housemaids arrive in the kingdom every month on employment visas, according to the Saudi National Recruitment Committee (SANARCOM). Saudi Arabia currently recruits housemaids from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Bangladesh, India, Ethiopia and Eriteria. Around 60 percent of the housemaids in the Kingdom are from Indonesia. The National Commission for Recruitment at the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce is plans to recruit Nepali, Vietnamese and Ethiopian housemaids on a monthly salary of SR800.