While there was an increasing demand for Filipino maids, nearly all Filipino maids working in Shenzhen are illegal workers.
It was estimated that more than 1,000 Filipino maids were working in Shenzhen without work permits because foreigners were prohibited from providing household services on the Chinese mainland, Tuesday s Shenzhen Economic Daily reported.
A friend of mine has a Filipino maid who is very nice, does her work well and speaks English, so I wanted to hire one, too. But many domestic service companies told me it was illegal to hire them, said a Nanshan District woman surnamed Wang.
Many domestic service companies did not provide Filipino maids. However, the newspaper found Web sites offering to help find maids. Most of the Web sites, such as www.fy818.com, had information and contact numbers for maids but no company address.
"Many domestic service companies only inform their regular clients [about Filipino maids] to avoid being fined, an unidentified man told the newspaper.
In some upmarket residential communities in Nanshan District, Filipino maids could be seen everywhere. The maids only have travel visas and had to go back to Hong Kong regularly. Meanwhile, some training companies hired them as teachers and sent them to work as maids, he said.
The average wage for a Filipino maid in Shenzhen is about 3,500 yuan (US$530) a month and those with a bachelor s degree and who speak Chinese are paid at least 5,000 yuan a month. Agencies also charged families 300 yuan in management fees every month and 4,500 yuan in intermediary fees. Families also had to pay for the maids visas, insurances and airfares. Total cost for hiring a Filipino maid was more than 70,000 yuan a year, the newspaper said.
Over the past few years, there have been constant calls at sessions of both the provincial and national legislatures for a change in laws that prohibit employing foreigners as domestic helpers. Several legislators have been arguing that Filipino maids should be allowed to work on the Chinese mainland because there s strong demand. (Wang Yuanyuan)
