Dubai: Filipinos sponsoring relatives on tourist visas to come to the UAE to find work will be held responsible if their relatives run into trouble in the UAE, a senior labour official said.

Labour attaché Delmer Cruz on Friday warned Filipinos sponsoring their relatives, who come here in the guise of UAE tourists but actually intend to look for employment mainly as housemaids or semi-skilled workers, that they are answerable if their relatives face employment problems in the UAE.

The warning comes following an alarming trend in the number of distressed Filipinos seeking help from the labour office’s shelter. The shelter houses an average of 14 to 15 distressed Filipinos a month, 50 per cent of whom are Filipinos on tourist visas who found work here as maids.

“We will start holding those who are sponsoring their relatives to come here accountable [if their relatives run into trouble],” Cruz told Gulf News.

“We will first use persuasive means so that our compatriots will not take for granted the affidavit of support and guarantee that they sign [to sponsor a relative]. They should really be prepared to be responsible for the people they’re sponsoring,” he added.

Filipinos sign an affidavit of support and guarantee with the Philippine embassy and consulate when they sponsor a relative for a visit to Dubai. The affidavit says the sponsor will provide all the financial support his relative needs, that his relative “shall not in any way or manner whatsoever be a public burden or ward in the UAE or any country en route from or to the Philippines”, and that his relative is not visiting the UAE to seek employment”, among others.

But this does not always happen, Cruz said. “Once the person is here and he runs into trouble and needs repatriation, who ends up sorting the problem out? We do.”

Deploying Filipino maids to the UAE via the legal route has stopped since June 1 last year due to conflicting rules between the UAE and the Philippine government. Both countries are currently under negotiations to resolve this.

Since hiring Filipina maids from the Philippines legally through agencies has stopped, many resort to the illegal act of recruiting Filipinas by letting them enter the UAE as tourists and later on hiring them as maids.

“Our message to the public is if you’re leaving the country on a tourist visa, you are more vulnerable, not only for those intending to work as housemaids, but even those who are semi-skilled,” Cruz said.

Cruz said officials have yet to discuss ways to enforce this new rule, although holding back one’s passport renewal can be a consideration.

“We will contact the relative and engage that person to help in resolving this problem including paying for the person’s return ticket, among other things.”