Migrant Workers

Amid the rising number of problems raised by migrant workers there, officials of Qatar’s human rights body visited the Philippines to assure overseas Filipino workers (OFW) that the Middle East country is stepping up efforts to safeguard their welfare.

Days after their resignation went into effect, more than 20 machine operators in Saudi Arabia have yet to be repatriated and their recruitment agency still has to pay for their booked tickets.

BRUSSELS, Belgium – Undocumented Filipino migrants in Belgium are concerned over the delay in the results of their applications for regularization.

ITALY – Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) based in Italy are forced to take a second job aside from their regular work to support the education of their children in the Philippines.

The government of Jordan has waived at least $7 million or around P315 million worth of exit fees for the speedy repatriation of runaway overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), an official said. Michael Ang, honorary consul of Jordan to the Philippines, disclosed that the said amount has reduced the number of distressed Filipino workers housed in…

CANADA – The Toronto Star reported that a new Canadian law inspired by a Filipino caregiver who died of cancer last year has a gigantic loophole that leaves caregivers who fall sick open to deportation.

MANILA, Philippines – President-apparent Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III must prove his worth by resolving the plight of Filipino migrant workers under the previous administration, an advocacy group said on Tuesday.

MANILA, Philippines – The decade that opened the new millennium may be remembered as the decade for a sector whose acronym —OFW (for overseas Filipino workers) – is a Southeast Asian country’s trump card, or flagship, for economic development.

DESPITE the speeches about overseas Filipino workers being heroes of our country, not very many really care about them. The bad treatment they get at government offices—especially at the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration—is a sign that they are not really looked up to as…

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine embassy in Israel has assured that the imminent deportation of children of overseas Filipino workers in that country will be handled in the most humane way.

MANILA, Philippines – The aging population and accommodative migration policies of most destination countries, plus the inability of the domestic economy to offer jobs, will mark the continued migration of Filipinos seeking better opportunities abroad.

ACCORDING TO A STUDY MANILA, Philippines—Filipino temporary migrant workers tend to be younger and better educated than their domestic counterparts, a study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) said.

Qualified Filipinos living in South Korea can now avail of Korean citizenship under its revised immigration law, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday.

SAN FRANCISCO – Two Filipino caregivers are celebrating their legal victory against their employer who they say abused them for years.

MANILA, Philippines – Millions of Asian and African women workers remain at high risk of exploitation and violence, especially in the Middle East, despite reforms in countries hosting a large number of migrant workers.

MANILA, Philippines – A group of Filipino drivers are living in a deplorable situation in Saudi Arabia. “Filipino drivers may be the best drivers, but they too could be living in a most miserable situation in a foreign land: living in  makeshift barracks they made themselves when off duty, and under the truck trailer when…

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MANILA, Philippines—Overseas Filipino workers in Taiwan could lose their jobs and Taiwanese tourists could skip the Philippines in the event Taiwan and China push ahead with signing an economic pact in June.

New law scraps DST, travel tax, airport fee for migrant workers Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are now exempted from paying documentary stamp tax (DST) on their remittances as well as travel tax and airport fee.

DAVAO CITY – A government executive here warns of an increasing number of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) defaulting on their loans from an economic crisis credit facility.

PASIG CITY – Many of the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) displaced last year by the global economic crisis, and who availed of government’s employment and livelihood assistance packages, are from Calabarzon, Central Luzon, and Central Visayas.

Finding a job in the city of Donguan in southern China is not hard at the moment. There is said to be a shortage of two million workers in this part of China.

Filipino workers in United Kingdom could soon return to the Philippines to be with their loved ones without jeopardizing their application for British citizenship, a UK official said.

Amnesty International has hit Malaysia for the Muslim country’s severe and excessive criminal penalties on migrants, saying that foreign workers are being punished even if errors are committed by the employer.

A BILL giving Filipinos who want to work abroad more protection lapsed into law after President Gloria Arroyo let the 30-day period within which to veto it pass.

At least 200 Filipinos in Saudi Arabia who were imprisoned for petty offenses were granted pardon and subsequently repatriated to the Philippines since December 2009, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reported Saturday. Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Esteban Conejos Jr. said that the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh and the Philippine Consulate General…

At least 120 representatives from the 118 member-countries of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), including the Philippines, have vowed to protect the rights of migrants at the conclusion of the Special Non-Aligned Movement Ministerial Meeting on Interfaith Dialogue for Peace and Development in Manila on Thursday.

A number of overseas Filipino workers’ (OFW) groups urged President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo last week to veto amendments to the migrant workers’ law, which they said are anti-OFW particularly the provision on mandatory insurance.

MILAN, Italy – The Philippine Labor Office in Milan is concerned about overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) whose health and career advancement are affected by misplaced priorities.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) appealed yesterday to overstaying Filipino workers in Oman to avail themselves of the amnesty program being offered by the Omani government for foreigners with expired work permit.