Here’s a warning for Filipinos hoping to find a job in the United Arab Emirates while using a tourist visa.
Delmer Cruz, Philippine labor attaché, recently spoke against the practice saying it is illegal and will surely lead to trouble. In the past, some Filipinos are sponsoring friends or relatives to come over as tourists at first but are then referred to jobs thereafter.
Cruz said that this is not acceptable and is in fact prohibited by the law. As of present time, he says that the number of distressed people with them has reached great figures with over half of them being Filipinas who went to UAE on a tourist or visit visa.
“We experienced a spike in the number of wards, which is the highest since we reached our lowest number in the third quarter of 2015,” said Cruz in an interview with Gulf News “Currently, we have 30 wards, more than 50 percent of whom entered the UAE without going through proper channels after the deployment suspension in 2014.”
Since June 2014, UAE has implemented a ban on direct hiring of maids from the Philippines. This was due to the conflicting recruitment rules in labor-exporting countries. Presently, UAE and the Philippines are under negotiations to address the concern.
As with most countries, the legal process for hiring maids from the Philippines would be for the candidate to work with a government-accredited recruitment agency and pass all the legal requirements.
Cruz explained further, “Going against this constitutes human trafficking that can put the workers [who arrive on tourist visas] into precarious or vulnerable situations. Our remedy is limited because we do not know the agencies that brought them here.”
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The situation can get more complicated if, for instance, an illegally-staying Filipina maid gets abused by her employer. It is possible that she will be charged a big amount for breaking the policy.
“We have time and again,” continued Cruz “reminded our compatriots to go through legal channels if they want to work here.”