According to POEA, OFWs in Korea who have worked for three consecutive years with only one employer can return and work for the same employer for another three-year contract. Returning workers should bring their certificate of re-employment and the Certificate of Confirmation of Visa Issuance (CCVI) to the Korean Embassy to be issued an E-9 visa which costs Php2,500. They should also secure an exit clearance from the POEA as a balik-manggagawa in the form of an electronic receipt after payment of the necessary fees.

For more info: please visit the POEA website.

Effective July 16, the Korean embassy in Manila had stopped accepting and processing visa applications of OFWs as the embassy’s retaliation for the Philippine government’s inaction to its complaints about the alleged extortion activities done to Korean nationals in the Philippines.

A report said that the possible lifting of the suspension of accepting the visa applications, would depend on the action of the government on the complaints.

If you receive an overseas job offer via email, beware. Email scams are proliferating offering high paying jobs to overseas multinational companies. Here is how to detect an email scam:

1. You will be told that they found your resume through a job bank.
2. The company will require you to undergo a seminar/training fee.
3. You will be tasked to pay a reservation fee, OWWA membership and other taxes.

Once you have paid the amount, the person will simply disappear without communication.

To protect yourself from these types of frauds, check and verify the existence of the company and call up the person who sent you the email using the office number of the company.

The Department of Foreign Affairs is set to issue machine readable passports by August this year. The new passpport boast of various secruity features that will make it difficult to tamper.

The Philippines is one of the few remaining countries who does not have machine readable passports. Philippine passports are handwritten and are easily tampered. The first receipients of this passports will be OFW’s who are having their passports renewed at the POEA.

The POEA Administrator Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldo cancelled the licenses of RDRI International Manpower, Town International Manpower, and Skyline Placement Agency for violating foreign deployment policies three times.

The officials of the three agencies could no longer participate in the overseas employment program of the government and “their names shall be included in the POEA List of Persons with Derogatory Record.”