BI tightens up screening on Bahrain-bound Pinoys

MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Immigration (BI) today ordered immigration officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport to tightly screen Filipino tourists bound for Bahrain following reports that many of them end up as undocumented workers.

In a press statement, immigration commissioner Ricardo David Jr. said the Philippine Embassy in Bahrain alerted them about the practice of many overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). of traveling to Bahrain on a visitor’s visa but later converting them to work visas once they find employers.

David ordered airport immigration officials to conduct meticulous pre-departure inspections of Filipinos leaving for Bahrain.

Immigration statistics show that since August 2010, the bureau has off-loaded more than 54,000 departing Filipinos suspected of being “tourist workers” or OFWs disguised as tourists.

The government had earlier banned the deployment of OFWs to Bahrain following increased political tension in the kingdom.

But the ban was recently lifted after the political situation returned to normal. –abs-cbnNEWS.com