Filipinos warned they risk of exploitation by fake work visas to enter UAE illegally

Going through proper channels will protect workers, Philippine officials say.

ABU DHABI // Filipino jobseekers are being urged to go through the proper channels to get a job in the UAE, instead of presenting phoney travel documents when they leave their home nation and entering the country as tourists.

The warning came after some were prevented from leaving Manila airport after officials discovered they had fake overseas employment certificates (OEC).

They admitted buying the documents from a recruiter for 40,000 pesos (Dh3,280), the online site GMA News reported.

Siegfred Mison, an immigration commissioner, has since directed immigration officers at all airports in the Philippines to inspect the certificates of departing Filipinos, particularly those travelling to the Middle East.

“This is the first time I’ve heard about OECs being faked and used for human-trafficking activities,” said Angel Borja Jr, the Philippine labour attache in Abu Dhabi. “We need to check our stock as some might have been stolen from our offices.”

An OEC costs Dh10 and is issued by the Philippine overseas labour offices in Abu Dhabi or Dubai. Filipinos returning to the UAE from holidays at home must have this document to prove they are legally employed.

Filipinos who are leaving the country for the first time to work are required to undergo a pre-departure orientation seminar and apply for the document at the Philippine overseas employment administration (Poea).

“We will ask our labour department in Manila to conduct a thorough review of the current system of issuing these certificates,” Mr Borja said.

Delmer Cruz, a labour attache in Dubai, said he believed some departing Filipinos were buying fake OECs to pose as legitimate overseas workers, then using tourist visas to enter the country when they arrived at their destination.

The fake employment visas, which are shown to Philippine authorities when leaving the country, are sold with the instruction to dispose of them upon arrival in the UAE and to instead show immigration officials a tourist or maid visa.

“The reason why they’re doing it is because they did not go through the legal process,” said Mr Cruz. “About 70 to 80 per cent of our walk-in clients who seek help arrived here on tourist visas.

“What does this indicate? They are vulnerable and can be taken advantage of by their employers.

“These Filipinos are desperate to land jobs here and are not in a position to negotiate fair contract terms and compensation package with their employers.”

Mr Borja agreed, saying those without valid Poea contracts did not have the benefit of a “fallback position”, unlike those who were hired through a licensed agency in the Philippines.

“Clerks, baristas, waiters, cleaners and other semi-skilled workers who arrived here on tourist visas are vulnerable to contract violations,” he said. “But if their contracts were processed in the Poea, we can call upon the agency and hold them accountable.”

The immigration bureau also said they had received reports that fake electronic visas were being issued to Filipinos leaving for the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries.

Both attaches said they had seen several fake work visas held by runaway maids who turned up at their labour-office shelter.

“They are hired as cleaners, office clerks or beauticians but end up working as maids,” Mr Cruz said.