Deployment of OFWs to Kuwait hits snag
THE deployment of household service workers (HSWs) to Kuwait has remained “anemic” despite a huge demand for their services because of a new bank deposit requirement covering foreign recruitment agencies (FRAs).
Industry sources said on Sunday that The sources said the Kuwaiti counterparts the slow-paced deployment to Kuwait of local recruitment agencies was an offshoot of a new directive from were “not in total agreement” with the Philippine Overseas Employment the new requirement.
Agency (POEA) requiring all FRAs for TheManilaTimes tried to get the Kuwait– bound HSWs to deposit under comment of POEA Administrator Bernard an escrow account in any Philippine bank Olalia at press time but he could a minimum of $10,000 to serve as a guarantee not be reached by phone. for any possible monetary claim of Olalia issued Memorandum Circular HSWs in case of contract disputes. 10-A on July 30, 2018 to stipulate the
The bank deposit requirement was terms of the required escrow deposits. among the additional safety nets to “The escrow deposit shall answer Filipino workers contained in an agreement for all valid and legal claims arising signed by the Philippine and from the violation of the employment Kuwaiti governments. contracts with the workers,” Olalia said in the memo.
Recruitment consultant and migration expert Emmanuel Geslani confirmed that only a few hundred HSWs have been deployed to Kuwait in the past two months and majority of them were already holders of working visas that expired because of the two-month deployment ban.
Their visas were renewed after the signing of the Philippine- Kuwait agreement.
Geslani added that some 5,000 HSWs were being deployed to Kuwait every month at the height of the deployment ban from 2016 to 2017.
Accoding to Geslani, many FRAs were not amenable to the escrow deposit because they had already paid a bond of KD40,000 in Kuwait.
The POEA issued Memo Circular 10 on July 19 to spell out the implementing guidelines for the resumption of the HSWs deployment to Kuwait after a three-month hiatus.