The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) never fails to remind applicants not to apply in agencies which do not have a license to recruit from POEA.

Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said that under Republic Act 8042 as amended by the Republic Act 10022, offering overseas employment in the guise of visa assistance without the necessary license or authority from the POEA constitutes illegal recruitment.

POEA Memorandum Circular No. 10, Series of 2003 regulates the participation of foreign and local immigration consultancy agencies in the recruitment and placement of overseas Filipino workers. Immigration consultants are required to obtain a license from the POEA before they may engage in recruitment and placement activities, regardless of the visa under which deployment shall be made eventually.

Cacdac said that if found guilty of offering jobs to applicants, travel agencies and immigration firms will be closed down and their owners will face charges.

He added that applicants need not to waste their money on consultancy agents for their service fees as information about immigration and working visa in countries like Canada, US, Australia and UK are available online and can be processed by the applicant.

“By having an agent, they would be paying for information and counsel that are free and readily available in the said countries' respective websites. Also, the documents required

by the immigration offices of these countries could only be produced by the applicant and not by the consultant,” Cacdac said.

Cacdac stressed that some travel agencies are more blatant in luring jobseekers as they include “the opportunity to hunt for jobs” in their tour packages.

The POEA administrator said that jobseekers who want to know more about immigration and working visa policies, may visit these accredited websites:

For Canada: www.cic.gc.ca/english/index,

For USA: www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/

For Australia: www.immi.gov.au/skilled/

For UK: www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/

POEA reminds applicants to be wise and not to engage in illegal recruiters. Only POEA-licensed agencies are allowed to process and deploy workers abroad.

View here to see the latest job openings abroad from POEA-lciensed agencies