The Labor Department warned Filipino jobseekers who wish to work in Canada against websites that claimed to be connected with the official website of the government of Canada.

According to Labor Secretary, Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz, a report from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) shows that scammers are now using legitimate-looking websites to charge high fees for non-existent jobs and fake immigration deals to workers who wish to work in Canada.

Baldoz said, “We want our OFWs to be vigilant against illegal and predatory overseas employment operations. They themselves should become their own lookout during their job hunting to avoid falling victims.”

Read more about this DOLE advisory. 

Filipino women who want to work as entertainers in Cyprus are warned by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). According to POEA Chief, Jennifer Jardin Manalili, there have been reports from the Philippine Embassy in Athens that some nightclubs in Cyprus are forcing Filipino entertainers to work as prostitutes.

Read full article about POEA advisory for Filipino entertainers bound to Cyprus.

Filipinos who wants to work in selected European countries as au pairs can freely do so now that the deployment ban that was imposed by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) thirteen years ago is finally lifted.

Manalili informed that the POEA Governing Board has issued three different resolutions that would lift the deployment ban to three European countries, Switzerland, Norway and Denmark. The ban was lifted because the said countries agreed to follow the requirements set by the Philippine government regarding the deployment of au pairs and guaranteed that they would protect their hired workers.

Read full article about the hiring of Filipino au pairs in selected European countries.

The Philippine Embassy in Guam alerted the POEA because of several reports that Philippine recruitment agencies continue to collect fees from applicants for the said visa category. Prior to the advisory, the US State Department disclosed that they are processing applications of possible Filipino workers for the Guam construction projects that said they have paid placement fees to the Philippine recruitment agencies. According to Bayani S. Mercado, Philippine Consul General, he had a meeting with Clay Allen, acting manager of US State Department’s Fraud Prevention and they discussed joint measures to make the public aware that US has a “no recruitment fee” policy for the H2B visa. Read more.