Immigration bureau to monitor foreign professionals entering RP

Foreign professionals entering the country will now be closely monitored by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to ensure they do not prejudice the interest of their Filipino counterparts.

Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan issued a memorandum order last June 18 requiring all foreign professionals applying for working visas with the bureau to submit their special or temporary permits from the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).

Libanan said the new policy is aimed at protecting the interest of Filipino professionals whose livelihood and employment opportunities could be prejudiced by the entry of foreign professionals into the country.

“We must institute measures to protect our Filipino professionals against the influx of their counterparts from abroad,” Libanan said.

The immigration chief thus ruled in his memorandum that, henceforth, all foreign professionals applying for pre-arranged employment visas or conversion of their status to working visa and whose work will involve the practice of his or her profession shall submit to the BI a temporary/special permit issued by the PRC.

The new rule applies to all working visa applicants whose profession is regulated by the PRC or Professional Regulatory Boards (PRB).

He said under the country’s labor laws, a foreigner applying for permission to work in the country must prove that there are no Filipinos who are equally capable or qualified for the job for which he or she was hired.

According to lawyer Floro Balato Jr., BI spokesman, the new policy is in line with the provisions of the laws, rules and regulations governing the mandate and functions of the PRC.

Balato noted that under existing laws, the PRC administers, implements and enforces the regulatory policies of the national government with respect to the regulation and licensing of 42 professions.

He said the PRC exercises its jurisdiction over the professionals through the PRBs.

The professions are accountancy; aeronautical engineering; agricultural engineering; agriculture; architecture; chemical engineering; chemistry; civil engineering; criminology; Customs brokerage; dentistry; electrical engineering; electronics and communications engineering; environmental planning; fishery technology; forestry; geodetic engineering; geology; guidance counseling; interior design; landscape architecture; librarians; marine deck officers; marine engineers; master plumbers; mechanical engineering; medical engineering; medical technology; medicine; metallurgical engineering; midwifery; mining engineering; naval architecture; nursing; nutrition and dietetics; optometry; pharmacy; physical and occupational therapy; professional teachers; radiologic and X-ray technology; sanitary engineering; social workers; sugar technology, and veterinary medicine. –Conrado Ching, Daily Tribune