POEA warns OFWs on job offers from a third country
The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration yesterday advised Filipino
workers who are presently employed overseas to be more careful about
accepting offers of employment in another country.
The POEA has received reports of Filipino household service workers (HSWs) in
Hong Kong, Singapore and Cyprus who were lured into transferring to another
country like Dubai, Mongolia, Turkey and Russia and who later found out the
conditions of employment are not what one had in mind; or worse, the offered
job is non-existent.
The recruiters were mostly nationals of the third country who have Filipino
partners in their illegal activities.
There were reports of workers who fell into this racket paying exorbitant fees
for just being able to travel to the third country using tourist visa and even
without assurance of employers waiting for them.
Those who found
employment later are sometimes abused by the employers, and for lack of
proper work documents, the hapless workers were arrested and deported by
immigration authorities.
Recruitment through a third country is considered illegal recruitment if neither
the recruiter nor the employer has proper authorization from the Philippine
government.
For their own protection, applicants for overseas jobs should have the
appropriate work permit or visa or employment contract approved by the
Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) and processed by the POEA before
leaving the country. /END
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