UK envoy warns Pinoys vs looking for work on tourist visas

Tags: OFWs in UK
After assuring Pinoys who seek to visit the United Kingdom on tourist and business visas that acquiring permits is a straightforward process, British Ambassador Asif Ahmad cautioned Pinoys against heading to the UK to look for work illegally. 
 
“Over 90 percent who visit the UK get their visas. So, we say yes to the vast majority of those who apply. What the UK does not allow is people using the idea that they can go as a tourist and hope that they can find work. That is not what we’re about,” Ahmad told reporters at the This is Great Britain Festival over the weekend.
 
Instead, Ahmad advised those seeking work in the UK to go through legitimate means to secure entry into the country, so they can be issued the correct visas for their intended purpose.
 
“If you want to work abroad you can look at our rules and regulations, and our capability. If you have a highly desirable skill that we’re short of, if you get sent on an intercompany transfer, if you are part of a research program where your skills are actively being sought, then that is still open,” Ahmnad said. 
 
However, the British ambassador admitted the UK might not be the best place for Overseas Filipino Workers at the moment. 
 
“We’re no longer really a place where people should look for large-scale skilled migration. We don’t have an OFW intake program, but we love the Filipinos living and working in the UK now—I’d rather be treated by a Filipina nurse or health care worker than anybody else,” he said. 
 
During the festival’s opening, Ahmad also took the time to debunk myths that it is difficult for a Filipino to obtain a visa to travel to the UK for business or pleasure.
 
“We are issuing 90 percent of visas, and we say yes, and we’re doing that in the target of 15 days. There are no queues in our system. Because the last thing we want is a snake of people queuing in the rain and the heat of Manila, waiting for a visa,” he said, adding applicants can now even track their progress online.
 
"It’s all done fairly quickly. You can even check on the website exactly how far we’ve come on your application," he said. — JDS, GMA News

Tags: OFWs in UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more