DOLE: Jordan issues new rules for departure of domestic workers

Foreign domestic workers in Jordan, including Filipinos, have been ordered to secure a clearance first stating that they have no criminal records before exiting the Kingdom.

The foreign domestic workers, which include over 20,000 Filipinos, must visit Jordan's Residency and Boarders Department five working days prior to departure date, according to the Philippine Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

Labor secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said this was contained in an official communication from Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Jesus Yabes, who is requesting assistance in disseminating the new directive.

"The move was initiated in order to legalize the domestic workers’ status and ensure that Jordan’s judicial authorities have not issued any travel ban against him or her," Baldoz said.

She said the directive was issued by Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Government records show there are 23,475 Filipino workers in Jordan, 90 percent of them are domestic helpers.

New directives

The directive applies “to foreign domestic workers who completed their contract and ready to depart but were unable to exit the Kingdom due to the presence of a publication at the security authorities consequent to their absence from the work place and/or to their having existing accumulated penalties,” the DOLE said.

It added a published labor-related case of a foreign domestic worker about to leave Jordan will be reviewed by the Systemic Civil Court, while security or criminal cases will be handled by the Public Security Directorate of the Ministry of Interior.

If the domestic worker does not have any case publication, the Minister of Interior will decide whether he or she is cleared for departure after an endorsement from the Public Security Directorate.

The decision will be announced two days after the receipt of such endorsement.

Subjects for deportation

Foreign embassies that shelter domestic workers who are unable to exit Jordan because of an existing publication must coordinate with the Public Security Directorate-Residency and Boarders Department for the review of the said publication five days before the domestic workers’ date of departure.

Similarly, embassies sheltering domestic workers subject for deportation, but do not have his or her passport, should also coordinate with the said office before he or she is issued alternate travel documents. This is to give time for the Public Security Directorate to retrieve such document from his or her employer, or recruitment agency, in collaboration with the Human Trafficking Unit and the Criminal Investigation Department.

In case that the passport was not found, it is only then that the concerned embassy can issue an alternative travel document, in accordance with relevant Jordanian legislation.

Together with the travel documents and reports of birth, foreign embassies should request the Minister of Interior, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to coordinate with the Department of Civil Status for the issuance of birth certificates for children of domestic workers leaving the country. — KBK, GMA News