The global economic slowdown affects most overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who have been laid off and were sent back home with nothing. Thus, recruitment groups in the Philippines request the government to grant special visas to OFW employers so they can continue with the hiring of OFWs.

The recruiters sent a letter to call the attention of President Gloria. Macapagal-Arroyo. The letter requests to extend to OFW employers the benefits of Executive Order (EO) No. 758. The EO will grant special visas for employment generation (SVEGs) to foreigners who could employ at least 10 Filipinos in the country.

The EO 758, issued in November, states that a foreigner with an SVEG would be considered special non-immigrants with multiple entry privileges and conditional extended stay, without need of prior departure from the Philippines.

“In the same spirit and intention to generate employment especially overseas jobs employers abroad, meaning non-immigrant foreigners who in their capacity as owners, officers, directors and managers of foreign companies who have provided overseas employment to at least 50 or even 100 Filipinos should also be granted a special visa,” Lito Soriano, the groups leader and executive director of the Federated Association of Manpower Exporters.

The special visa may also allows the applicant’s spouse and dependents under 18 years old, whether legitimate, illegitimate or adopted to migrate in the country.

Other recruiters who signed the letter for PGMA includes the former member of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) governing board, Ezekiel Alunen and Francisco de Guzman, a former president of the Philippine Association of Service Exporters Inc (PASEI).

“The SVEG scheme will be a very attractive incentive for foreign employers to retain OFWs and even hire more Filipinos in the coming years as they would be afforded special benefits and privileges befitting their contribution to the Philippines,” Soriano stated

According to the recruitment group, SVEGs could be given to foreign worker employers from the Middle East, which is the major destination of OFWs and the main source of dollar remittances that’s been a great help to afloat the Philippine economy for several years.