‘Tourist workers’ face exploitation

Filipinos urged to go through the proper channels to find work overseas to avoid being exploited or having to take any job.

ABU DHABI // When Maybelyn Gacusan arrived in the UAE on a 30-day tourist visa last October, she was hopeful about her job prospects.

None of her interviews, however, yielded an offer, so she went on a visa run to Oman, then stayed there for three days before returning to the UAE on another 90-day visa.

“I’ve been to at least 10 interviews so far,” said the 29-year-old Filipina. “I hope I’ll land a secretarial or sales job.”

Employers are offering Dh2,500 a month for a receptionist post and Dh1,800 for data encoders.

“It’s really hard to find a high-paying job,” said Ms Gacusan, whose visa expires on February 25.

“But we don’t have a choice other than to accept any job that comes along.”

As well as the documented, organised labour migration with written contracts, there are also workers who bypass the system and move to the UAE on tourist visas.

Oft-repeated but rarely heeded advice is for would-be immigrants to pass through the proper channels when job-seeking.

The tourist visa route is still a popular one for Filipinos, regardless of their skill level.

Tourist workers – citizens who get tourist visas so they can eventually work in other countries such as the UAE – are at risk of being exploited and forced to sign substandard contracts that are not in line with labour standards, said employment officials.

The limited duration of tourist visas that allow one month or three-month stays often forces Filipinos, regardless of their skill level, to accept the first job that comes along.

“It’s very risky,” said Ophelia Almenario, the labour attaché at the Philippine embassy in Abu Dhabi.

“These jobseekers have limited options and are unable to negotiate for better pay when their visas are about to expire.”

Under the UAE's new labour policies, prospective foreign workers would be asked to sign a standard employment offer in their home country, which would be filed with the Ministry of Labour before a work permit was issued.

That agreement would then be registered as a legal contract once the worker arrived in the country and no changes would be allowed unless they were additional benefits that the worker agreed to.

“Those on tourists visas are likely to be offered lower salaries and benefits,” she said.

“Unfortunately, when they get a better offer, they’re already employed and encounter problems such as a delay in the payment of wages.”

Philippines vice president Jejomar Binay, on a visit to the UAE this month, promised Filipina maids temporary accommodation at labour-office shelters in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

He said they would address the problem of undocumented or “tourist workers”.

Many of the maids, he said, had arrived in the UAE on tourist visas, had found jobs but then fled employers’ homes after complaining of various forms of mistreatment.

The legal way for Filipinos to seek overseas jobs is to apply through an agency accredited by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, Ms Almenario said.

“The worker is fully protected by the law,” she said.

“The agency who sent the worker abroad shall be held accountable if there are contract violations.”

Ms Almenario said she would not dissuade anyone arriving on tourist visas from accepting a job offer.

“It all boils down to personal choice,” she said.

“Is it worth taking the risk?”