[3] Filipinos make up the fourth-largest group of foreigners in Saudi Arabia,[4] and are the second-largest source of remittances to the Philippines.

[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, a Manila-based OFW organization.

[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 in Jeddah lived in a tent camp under a bridge before being able to be processed for deportation.

[16][17][18] As of February 2006, about 75% of the Philippine international schools represented by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) were located in Saudi Arabia.