UAE | Society

Filipinos sweat to meet employment certificate rule

Dubai facility overwhelmed by demand from those heading for vacation

By Ma Felicidad De los Santos, Staff Reporter
Published: 00:00 July 14, 2011

Image Credit: Ma Felicidad De los Santos/Gulf News
Applicants for overseas employment certificates must produce their passport and make a personal appearance at the Philippine Overseas Labour Office in Dubai.

Dubai: A surge in the number of applications for Overseas Employment Certificates (OECs) has led to people having to endure tiring waits at the Philippine Overseas Labour Office (Polo) in Dubai.

A number of Filipino expatriates have complained about having to wait for more than four hours for the OEC, which serves as a form of exit pass for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) travelling back home.

"They only have a few personnel to process the OEC of hundreds of applicants," said Pia Y. after a long wait for her certificate. "I arrived at 1:30pm and was given a priority number of 313. I was only served at 6:30pm. It was a very slow process. Authorities should speed up the process," she said

Ida C., another Dubai-based expatriate worker, received her certificate more than four hours after arriving at the centre at noon on Monday. She said she was heading to her province of Iloilo and wanted to get the document in Dubai itself before starting her holiday.

Tighter rules by authorities in the Philippines have made it mandatory for OFWs to present an OEC after visiting the country and before going back to their places of work. The requirement is meant to ensure that OFWs are properly documented and protected. An OEC costs Dh10 and exempts Filipino overseas workers from paying travel tax (Dh160). Expatriates have to personally apply for the certificate at the Polo office and show proof of employment and a valid residence visa.

Labour Attache Amilbahar Amilasan told Gulf News on Monday that the number of applications for OECs surged after the Philippines government announced through a newspaper in April that immigration officials had tightened the screening of workers and would require them to show proof of their employment abroad.

"So people thought they'd rather wait in the queue here than face difficulties in the Philippines," he said.

He said steps were being taken to increase staff levels. "But rest assured that despite the limited number of staff, we still work beyond office hours just to accommodate all approved applications for the day," he said.

Comments (25)

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Added 17:32 July 14, 2011

Philippine Overseas Labour Office (POLO) in Dubai needs to reorganise their structure. Money is involved for every transaction we made and despite of collecting fees from Filipino workers, the process is becoming more frustrating. There’s no database to pull out each records, no proper vicinity for people who need to wait for long hours and NO SYSTEM AT ALL! They should also hire people who is well presented and knowledgeable to answer all queries. Reorganisation of structures is highly needed!

Krishna, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Added 17:13 July 14, 2011

I gave birth in the Philippines last May and have to go without my OEC applied here for my vacation is for 3 months. On my experience, it is better to apply for OEC in the Philippines, POEA. Teleserv is there. Go there, fill the form and pass it to Teleserv and they will do the rest till the delivery of your OEC doorstep for only Php220 delivery charge. Also it is not true that application of OEC is no longer entertained in the airpoint. We can also apply there before checking in upon departure date. Too quick, too easy.. Maybe it's off peak but believe me it will not take 4 hours like what is happening here in OWWA Dubai.

Anonymous, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Added 17:08 July 14, 2011

It is time to implement E-gate in the Philippines exclusive to OFWs only. No more OEC, no more queueing at airport, no more immigration scams!!! When will this put into place? I don't know!!!

James Bond, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Added 16:05 July 14, 2011

I also agree with Bagumbayan... They should have Fridays or Saturdays open to cater to the needs of all the OFWs.. All of us taking our holidays usually just have enough days for our holidays and of course we always want to maximise our leaves to spend it with our love ones.. now.. we have to remove a day off just to request for at least a half day or whole day to make sure that we get OEC!!! It doesn't make sense that we have to fill out the same form over and over if they do not even have a database to encode all these?!?!?! I hope OWWA is doing something about this.. because it is becoming a burden to majority of the Filipinos who wish to visit our country... Also, I hope they lessen their holidays as well.. They have no work when it is holiday in the Philippines and in the UAE... Some people waste their time going there only to find out they are closed due to a Philippine Holiday! Sigh!

Anonymous, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Added 15:38 July 14, 2011

They need to be on time...Lack of staff over there are not the problems of applicants...We are paying the amount that they are charging. They can give us a good service in returnl....

Sheerin, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Added 15:23 July 14, 2011

Just got my OEC today at Phil. Embassy in Abu Dhabi, it only takes half an hour here Abu Dhabi. The cause of delay is the manual writing on the receipt. Thats all....

Warhorse, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Added 15:08 July 14, 2011

Service in our embassy is very disappointing. I went to process my OEC in order not to suffer in getting same document in POEA Manila (as I experienced last year June 2010) so I decided to fall in queue in Dubai rather than in Manila . I came at 7:30 am and finish around 1pm. We were told that only 1 person is working per document the reason of very long queue. Our fellow Filipinos suffer a lot as we even need to leave from work in order to get this small piece of paper. But all we require is quality of service from our government. The only solution is to add some more staff in order to accommodate people who want to get their OEC.

Kat, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Added 14:38 July 14, 2011

I am just wondering, why only Philippines needs to apply for OEC? I havent heard any other country needs it.

Anonymous, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Added 14:14 July 14, 2011

OWWA should rethink of its processes. We are now in computer age and yet they are still doing things manually. Thus making it slow. Why not make the Application Form available on OWWA's website. Select the nearest OWWA location to apply. Each application should have automated QUEUE Number, Date and Time. This would prevent overcrowding inside OWWA office too. I am just wondering why leaders in OWWA are not exploiting this electronic technology? They still dwell in the old age system of manual things!

Reg Cucal, ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates

Added 14:04 July 14, 2011

I was surprised with all the comments here, knowing we are already in COMPUTER AGE. We are left by TECHNOLOGY then...We need HIGH TECH MACHINES and HIGH TECH PEOPLE IN EMBASSY:(

Anonymous, Fujairah, United Arab Emirates