Filipinos in Saudi Arabia

Philippines Labor SecretarySilvestre Bello III (right) speaking to a group of Filipino workers stationed in Saudi Arabia in 2016
Total population
725,893 (2022 census)[1]
Languages
Filipino,English,Arabic
Religion
Islam,Roman Catholicism and otherChristian denominations
Related ethnic groups
Filipino people,Overseas Filipinos

Filipinos in Saudi Arabia are migrants or descendants of thePhilippines who live inSaudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is currently the largest employer ofOverseas Filipino Workers (OFWs),^[2] and has the largest Filipino population in theMiddle East.^[3] Filipinos make up the fourth-largest group offoreigners in Saudi Arabia,^[4] and are the second-largest source ofremittances to the Philippines.^[5]

Filipinos first arrived in Saudi Arabia in 1973, when a group of Filipino engineers migrated to the country.^[6] As of 2009, staff at the Saudi Arabian embassy in the Philippines process between 800 and 900 jobs for Filipinos daily.^[7] In 2008, Saudi Arabia had 300,000 job orders for Filipinos.^[8] Later, in the first time hiring Filipino medical professionals, Saudi Arabia announced intentions to hire 6,000 Filipinos as doctors and nurses between 2009 and 2011.^[7] In addition tomedical professionals, Filipinos work asautomotive workers,^[9] construction workers,^[10] and engineers,^[6] as well as in the fields ofdesalination,^[10]petroleum production and processing,^[10] telecommunications,^[10] andtransportation.^[10] In 2023, there were an estimated 130,000 Filipino nurses working in Saudi Arabia.^[11][12][13]

Every year, an unknown number of Filipinos in Saudi Arabia are "victims of sexual abuses, maltreatment, unpaid salaries, and other labor malpractices," according to John Leonard Monterona, the Middle East coordinator of Migrante, aManila-based OFW organization.^[14] Some Filipinos are attracted andtransported to Saudi Arabia illegally, where they are left stranded without work.^[15] Between January and August 2008, approximately 800 throughout the country sought help at Migrante chapters,^[15] and 922 others were deported to the Philippines in the first three months of 2008 after overstaying their visa requirements.^[16] At one point in early 2008, 103 Filipinos stranded inJeddah lived in a tent camp under abridge before being able to be processed for deportation.^[16][17][18]

As of February 2006, about 75% of the Philippine international schools represented by theCommission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) were located in Saudi Arabia. Community-owned Philippine schools, including the International Philippine School in Al Khobar (IPSA), theInternational Philippine School in Jeddah (IPSJ), and International Philippine School in Riyadh (IPSR), were by 2006 managed by independent school boards but were initially managed by the diplomatic missions themselves.^[19] As of 2006, Riyadh has 13 Philippine private schools and Jeddah has five Philippine private schools.^[20]

Large numbers of Philippine children came to Saudi after many Filipino workers arrived in Saudi Arabia in the 1980s. The first Philippine school in Saudi Arabia,Philippine School in Jeddah was established after the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah began making efforts to start a school in 1983, and Philippine schools were later established inRiyadh and other Saudi cities. In 2000 Saudi Arabia had nine accredited Philippine schools.^[19] By 2005 Jeddah alone had four Philippine international schools, with two more scheduled to open shortly.^[21] By 2006 there were 21 Philippine schools recognized by the CFO, reflecting a 133% growth rate from 2000.^[19]

Community international schools in Saudi Arabia are not required to separate male and female students into separate campuses and are allowed to host social activities with men and women mixed.^[22] Regis and Guzman stated that in private Philippine international schools, unlike in the community schools, many Saudi rules that are not consistent with theculture of the Philippines are enforced.^[23]

• Ramiele Malubay^[24] - is a Filipino-American singer. She was born in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
• Margaret Nales Wilson - is a Filipino-British model. She grew up mostly in Saudi Arabia and she spent 14 years in Jeddah.

• Philippines-Saudi Arabia relations
• Foreign workers in Saudi Arabia
• Migrant workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council region

• Filipino diaspora by country
• Ethnic groups in Saudi Arabia
• Saudi Arabian people of Filipino descent
• Philippines–Saudi Arabia relations
• Ethnic groups in the Middle East

• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from October 2010
• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles using infobox ethnic group with image parameters