The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration has warned overseas Filipino workers to be wary about offers of third-country jobs.
This comes after POEA has received reports about Filipino household service workers in Hong Kong, Singapore and Cyprus being offered jobs and transfer to countries such as United Arab Emirates, Mongolia, Turkey and Russia, but ended up empty handed or learned of poor working conditions.
Recruiters are often from these third countries operating closely with Filipino cohorts in their illegal operations.
Some reports say some victims have paid huge sums of money to move to another country using tourist visas and face uncertainties on whether jobs promised to them actually exist.
Other reports say Filipinos who managed to enter these countries and land jobs suffer employer abuse, and those who do not hold legitimate documents were arrested and deported by immigration authorities.
Third-country recruitment is considered illegal recruitment if recruiters or employers fail to acquire authorization to hire from the Philippine government.
For their own protection, applicants who wish to seek employment overseas must possess necessary work permit or employment visa on a contract approved by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office and processed by POEA before deployment abroad.
