The POEA warns recruitment agencies deploying OFWs in Canada and other countries which have prevailing system, either by law, policy against collecting of placement fees because the employers are the one who will shoulder the cost of placement and other services pertaining to the deployment.                          

The POEA rule states that land-based agency will not collect placement fee from workers from workers who will be deployed in any country where collecting placement fees is prohibited. The POEA will cancel the license of the recruitment agency found violating this policy. Read more…

The DoLE issued an advisory about the exorbitant fees collecting by agencies or individuals offering an employment for as nurse. The DoLE has received reports that nurses who have job offer in New Zealand were required to pay between P500,000 and P700,000 in exchange of their employment in the country.

The secretary of DoLE urged applicants to report these individuals or agencies asking for excessive fees in exchange of their deployment to the POEA so they can file appropriate charges.

More Filipinos will be given a chance to work in since the Italian government is planning to increase the number of allotted quota of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Italy. The quota for next year will become 5,000 as compared to 3,000 for the year 2006.

The new quota under the Italian Migration Law for Non-Seasonal Non-European Union Workers opens job opportunities to caregivers and construction and dependent work as long as there are employers to hire them. Interested workers can now also apply via the internet. Read more…

The Philippine government will have an agreement with British Columbia in Canada to improve the immigration policy in hiring skilled workers and other professionals in the province.

The agreement will widely open doors for RP workers. Among the employment opportunities that would be opened starting next year would involve jobs in the preparation for the 2010 Olympics to be held in Vancouver, Whistler and nearby municipalities.

Marilou Ranario, an OFW in Kuwait who received a death sentence for the alleged murder of her Kuwaiti employer on Jan.10, 2005 for reason of supposed mistreatment was saved when the Kuwaiti Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah reduced her sentence to life imprisonment. The personal appeal of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo during her four-hour visit to Kuwait prevent the death sentence.