Basic Facts About Domestic Workers
Who Hold G-5 and A-3 Visas

1. SPECIAL VISAS: Under a special State Department program, diplomats and non-American officials with international agencies (World Bank, IMF, United Nations, Inter-American Development Bank, etc) are permitted to bring in domestic workers from overseas.

2. THE LAW: The employers agree, often in written contracts (although these have not been mandatory), to provide “reasonable living and working conditions” as defined by U.S. laws. This should include minimum wage, fixed hours, vacation pay, time off, and paid overtime. The World Bank and IMF routinely do the paperwork to facilitate the process of securing domestic help for their staff.

3. WORK PERFORMED: The domestics (housekeepers, cooks, nannies, gardeners, drivers, etc.) are given visas (A-3 for those employed by diplomats, G-5 for those employed by international civil servants), which permit them to work only for that one employer.

4. NUMBER OF VISAS: Preliminary statistics show that the State Department issued 3,893 A-3 and G-5 visas in 1999. The most common countries of origin were: Philippines (20% of total), Indonesia, Peru, India, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Morocco, Chile, and Colombia. The World Bank and the IMF are the institutions whose officials employed the largest number of G-5s (approximately 1,000 total).

5. EXTENT OF THE ABUSE: No centralized records exist, but lawyers, church and social workers, and others involved in handling complaints estimate there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of exploited and abused foreign domestics in the Washington area. (Similar situations exist in New York, Geneva, London, and elsewhere).

6. UNDERGROUND RAILROAD: Most cases of exploitation go unreported because domestics, out of fear of deportation, ignorance of their legal rights or available assistance, suffer in silence. There has been, however an informal network of churches and service agencies, lawyers, safe houses and good Samaritans – a sort of “underground railroad” – that assists some domestics.

7. PATTERN OF ABUSE: Employers often take the workers’ passports; provide minimal room and board but pay little or, on occasion, nothing; make them work long hours; forbid the worker from leaving home alone or making phone calls; and threaten to send home anyone who complains.

8. DEPORTATION RISK: A domestic servant who leaves the employ of her official sponsor is considered “out of status” by the Immigration and Naturalization Service and is subject to deportation.

9. SETTLEMENTS: Lawsuits are often settled out of court, with an agreement that neither side will discuss the matter publicly. The WB and IMF have facilitated such settlements, which avoid negative publicity. However, increasing numbers of cases are now going to court. On February 10, 2000, an employer who initially brought in a Brazilian domestic worker under a G-5 visa was convicted of three accounts of abuse and sent to jail.

10. DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY: Senior diplomats at embassies, the UN, and the OAS (who have diplomatic passports and hold A visas) enjoy essentially complete immunity from civil or criminal action unless that protection is waived by their home country. Therefore, domestics working for these officials have no legal recourse, although the State Department has the right to investigate and request diplomatic immunity be waived.