The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) issued a reminder that the “no placement fee policy” for household service workers (HSWs) bound to Taiwan is still in effect.

This is in response to the call of some recruitment agencies to abolish the rule and make household workers pay. Pilipino Manpower Agencies Accredited to Taiwan (Pilmat) wants HSWs to shoulder the placement fee because of the financial meltdown that are currently faced by Taiwanese employers. Read more.

In the light of the economic slump being experienced in Taiwan, its government cannot afford to totally close its doors on overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). In the effort to improve its economy, major infrastructure projects was launched by the Taiwan government, hence creating the need to hire more foreign workers.

Its government allotted 500 billion Taiwan dollars for infrastructure projects that would run from 2009 to 2010. However, the number of job openings available for OFWs in Taiwan next year may be less than the number of vacancies before the recession. Read more.

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia needs hundreds of foreign workers to be able to complete the construction of a new deepwater container port terminal. To meet the target date of completion which is next year, Jeddah currently have hundreds of employment opportunities for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). As Saudi employers prefer to hire OFWs, no placement fee will be charged to qualified applicants. Read more.

The need to fill up the shortage of nurses in America has become so severe that the US government decided to make the rules in obtaining visa requirement of foreign nurses easier.

The order to relax the visa procedures was made by the US government after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) point out that the scarcity of health professionals in America may become a threat to the national security.

The new rule, Processing of “Schedule A” Nurse Visas was released on December 5 and can be viewed at: http://www.hammondlawfirm.com/downloads/CIS_Ombudsman_Schedule_A.pdf.

Read more.

The Eulogio “Amang” Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology (EARIST) and Srcbc – Continental University Centre (S-CUC) a State College accredited by Commission on Higher Education (CHED) aims to provide better opportunities for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW’s) and their dependents by offering a special academic program that would upgrade their academic credentials by modular form of instructions. Read more.