In May 2019 Saudi Gazette reported that the Saudi Ministry of Labor and Social Development stopped recruiting Ethiopian housemaids after talks on recruitment conditions with Ethiopia reached a deadlock.
Saudi offices said thousands of visas had been issued for families, yet almost no Ethiopian domestic workers had arrived before Ramadan, and the freeze left both sides blaming the other’s terms.
Gulf domestic-work disputes are a standing Horn story: remittances, abuse risks, and diplomatic bargaining over contracts that decide whether women can leave legally or travel irregularly.
Kept as Gulf migration archive, the May 2019 visa revocation dates one freeze in the Ethiopia–Saudi labor corridor.
Sources: Saudi Gazette