Officials tell Filipinos to avoid job hunting on tourist visas as dozens sent home
Filipinos are being urged to use official channels when looking for employment in the UAE, after the repatriation of dozens of citizens this week.
The Philippine Consulate in Dubai sent home 32 people on August 11, bringing the number of repatriations to at least 1,660 this year. Most had come on tourist visas to find work, putting them at risk of exploitation.
Some had failed to find jobs, and others had been returned to agencies by employers or left because of alleged mistreatment, abuse or unpaid wages.
The majority worked as domestic staff.
To legally hire a domestic worker from the Philippines, employers are required to go through government-accredited recruitment agents. Labour officials must approve the job offer before the worker leaves their home country.
“We always encourage our people not to enter the UAE on a visit visa if they would like to find a job,” said Felicitas Bay, the Philippines Labour Attache to Dubai and the Northern Emirates.
“Should there be any offer of employment, they should go through the government agencies in the Philippines.”
The repatriated citizens were sheltered at the Migrant Workers and other Overseas Filipinos Resource Centre, which is run by the Philippine Overseas Labour Office in Dubai. The federal government approved a Domestic Labour Law in 2017, guaranteeing domestic staff decent accommodation and meals, one day of paid rest per week, eight consecutive hours of rest per day and payment of wages within 10 days of the agreed payment day.
More than 30,000 undocumented workers appealed for assistance in settling their legal status during an UAE amnesty that ran from August to December last year. The Philippine government repatriated more than 2,400 people during the amnesty.
The Philippines Bureau of Immigration stopped 16 illegally hired Filipinos bound for the UAE from leaving Manila on August 7, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Immigration officials also stopped a group of 29 illegally recruited men and women from travelling to Dubai for work.
They had tourist visas and had been promised jobs in the hospitality industry.
Young women who come on tourist visas may be promised office or hospitality jobs only to discover they will be placed as domestic staff with employers who do not respect labour laws, Ms Bay said.