For Filipinos to be able to work in most foreign countries, skills should be a big part of the qualification. Working visas are issued under the premise that such worker has the necessary skill required by a sponsoring company. However, that statement only fills half of the story. Theoretically most countries impose a rule that a working visa will be issued if and only if 1) an applicant has proven skills on a given requirement; and 2) the sponsoring company cannot find a suitable candidate from the host country.
If Saudi Arabia recruits Filipino welders or United Kingdom recruits Filipino nurses, most likely it means these countries don’t have enough welders and nurses to augment its needs. But it could also mean that these jobs are being ignored by locals even when these jobs are available to them. If these conditions apply to Filipinos aiming to work abroad, there is no question the same applies to foreigners aiming to work in the Philippines.
Maybe this law has been in place for long but was not implemented properly, prompting the Department of Labor to issue a stricter guideline on foreigners working in the Philippines.
DOLE Department Order No. 97-09, series of 2009, provides for revised rules laying down stringent regulations on the issuance of alien employment permits (AEPs) to foreigners seeking to work in the country. He said the D.O. will prevent the foreigners from taking local jobs that may be filled up by local workers in accordance with Article 40 of the Labor Code.
For some reasons, the Philippine government refers to foreigners as aliens in legal documents so that these aliens must secure these AEPs before commencing their work. You may ask, what are these jobs that foreigners or aliens are taking up in the wake of relatively high unemployment among the local population? Does the equation work when Filipinos try to work abroad and earn more, while foreigners flock to the country to work? The jobs these foreigners are usually white collar jobs and professionals such as country executive of a multinational firm. Japanese post the highest number of foreign workers in the Philippines (about a quarter of total), followed by British (10.2%), American (9.6%), Chinese (8.7%) and Korean (7.3%) according to Migration and the Labour Market in Asia: Recent Trends and Policies.
While there is no question we need foreign workers who have extensive experience in running the business, there are illegal workers, typically who sneak into the country, taking some of the riskiest (if not illegal) jobs in the Philippines. Last August, the Bureau of Immigration deported 21 Chinese citizens engaged in illegal mining of black sand and with no proper working permits.
This stricter policy by the DOLE hopes to further protect local jobs that can be filled up by local workers from foreign incursions. Basically these are the reasons why a foreigner will be denied visa in the Philippines:
1. Misrepresentation of facts in the application
2. Submission of falsified documents
3. Foreign national has criminal record
4. Availability of a Filipino who is competent, able, and willing to do the job intended for the foreign national
Foreigners found working without an AEP will also be fined P10,000 for every year of their employment in the country. This looks promising but still sounds small compared to stiff sanctions against Filipinos often abused and deceived by employers abroad, where they are fined, get jail terms, or physical punishments such as caning.
Photo credit: Pierce – Britishness
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