Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC) is a piece of document that overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) need to present to the Immigration Department upon leaving the Philippines for work abroad.
The primary purpose of OEC is to provide proof that as OFWs, they are exempted from paying travel taxes and terminal fees. Once they present this document, along with their passports, OFWs are cleared to bypass the collecting agents located inside the terminal building across international airports in the Philippines.
OECs can be filed at consulates and embassies of the Philippines located abroad, as well as POEA offices in the Philippines. While the cost may be minimal, many OFWs argue that it’s not just about the money and the time spent, but more on its practical use.
Why Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC) requirements must be abolished
It’s costly
The title may be a bit too much if the cost per copy of OEC is an affordable P100. But to ordinary OFWs who haggle for better exchange rates so they can send more money back home, this amount (or equivalent foreign equivalent) is too much. Not to mention the cost of transportation, food, and effort just to fall in line and get this document.
It’s time consuming
Obtaining OEC or exit pass can be long especially on places where concentration of OFWs is high. Therefore it can be a considerable amount of time to get this form sorted out. Since time is also money, don’t we think it’s sometimes more practical to skip OEC to avoid costs? In some cases applying for this document is a risk to physical health and inconvenience at work.
It’s not practical
Paying a fee for a document that exempts one from paying a fee sounds redundant and impractical. If you add the hourly rate at work queuing, paying for transport, or even taking a leave from work, the cost may even be higher than the airport terminal fees and travel taxes combined. But OFWs are forced to comply because failure to present an OEC to an immigration officer could get them at risk of offloading.
There are other ways we can prove ourselves as OFWs
If the main reason for OEC is to determine that Filipinos are certified to work abroad, OEC is not the only document that will solve this issue. OFWs can show their job contract verified as valid by the embassy, visa on their passports or IDs/residence permits of their country of employment. OEC just complicates the matter and has become a big nuisance to many Filipinos abroad.
It adds workload to consular staff
Staff who are supposed to attend to more critical tasks — assisting distressed OFWs, following up on labor violations, and others — are forced to sit and issue these OECs, thereby making them unavailable to assist Filipinos who seek other forms of help.
We have been notified previously that OEC will be abolished. But until now, or at least as of this page update, OEC is here to stay.
And i may say, not only that domestic helper are required to have a standard contract authenticated by the embassy with the red ribbon and to be able to get that we need to buy an embassy bond that cost S$70-80. All in all we spent less than S$300 for oec every 2 yrs. You are trying to tell us that for us to be excempted from paying terminal fee and travel tax? We are paying more than that.
The Working permit/ employment pass card is not enough to show that you are OFW?
let us change the new system
gud day mr hans cacdac bkit nmin kelangan magki pag appointment pede nmannkmi pumunta jan sa main office nio pra sa oec pinahihirapan nio lang kmi sna ibalik nio yon dati salamat po sna maaksyonan noi po
Dyan sa Pinas imbes na mapadali lalong pinapahirap ang proseso. Laging pinipiga pera ng tao.
It’s useless Oec nka online nga pero ung applicant pa mag apply ano na ginawa ng mga nag work dyan sa bm online wl recieved lng supposed to be trabaho nla yan pero bnigay sa mag apply ng Oec sobok kona yan paano kng ind mrunong mag computer dti cla gumagawa ng Oec hinge lng ng information sau ngyn nkaupo nlng
Pwede nman kht wlang Oec ipakita lng ung exit the entry ID working permit sbhn nlng ntin gusto lng magka pera
Pati POEA dapat tanggalin na rin.
Meron pa lang multiple OEC? Maka pag apply nga…
Galing talaga magtorture ng Phil government sa mga ofw oh. Sayang oras na bayad pa. Pede naman magpakita ng workpass o employment pass as proof na me work ka. Tinanong ko mga overseas workers na Malaysians, Myanmar at Indians… wala naman silang ganung kataran@##hang oec. Attention Philippine Govt.. K.I.S.S – keep it simple s..
OEC,only in the philippines,..wala po nyan sa ibang bansa pero nakakaabrod cla,esp.thailand,puro skill visa sila,di papayag govt ,kung hindi skilled visa, kahit wala sila binabayaran OEC.
Our government needs an overhaul. Thanks that Duterte is coming. Please relieve OFW’s from unnecessary expense due to governments ineffeciency. An exit pass is not necessary to be expensive. Passport has exit and re-entry visas for returning workers. ExIt pass should be free and available on-line.
pwede nmn po online yan. bkit po dto sa qatar they require exit permit pero puro online system. sa pinas online nga pero kailangan mo p rin mgpunta sa opis just to pay and claim.
Ngbayad.na.kami.dito sa abroad ng oec.pero.pgdating sa Pinas…may.bitbit pang recibo attach s.ibang documents..pgpila eh..bayad pa.din…bayad dito…bayad doon!!!..sabi ipapakita ang recibo.na bayad.na s.abroad…wala.din epek!!!
they are making it hard as well for dependents of ofws to get the refund of terminal fee, ive asked got everything sorted with copies and all of my dependents pagdatign doon they wanted an NSO copy from Manila instead of coming from nso davao. in the end walang refund. refunds are nonsense, why dont they exepmt automatically . isa pa yan sa pwedeng makurakot.
if government want to impose tax that is fine as long as the system is hassle free… don’t waste our time and energy just to pay something, at least open our EMBASSIES during weekend/holidays to avoid most of the OFW to take leave… remember we are in foreign land and we are NOT here for pleasure, in fact we are serving our NATION for every dollar we send…
i wish sana mawala na tlaga itong OEC kc useless nmn talga den dipa natin alam kung san napupunta ung mga pera den ung mga epleyado dyan sa consulate ng Dubai kala mo kung sinu sila mga maaangas ewan ko ba nmn bakit sila pa mismo na mga kapwa pilipino natin ang mga may di magandang mga asal dapat sila ang unang tangalin dyan palitan ng mga maglilingkod sa taong bayan.