OFW Direct Hire Jobs from Employer from Abroad

Direct or Name hires are Filipino workers who are able to secure an overseas employment opportunity with an employer without the assistance or participation of any agency. Although your future employer would take care of the requirements (plane tickets, work visa, etc.), you must still have certain documents processed at the POEA.

Getting a job abroad is an opportunity to broaden your skills and knowledge and be adaptable enough in different working environments. Filipinos have been known to perform well and exceed the expectations of their employers locally and internationally.

That’s why it cannot be denied the high demand of Filipino workers for direct-hire in several countries.

OEC is a very important document for OFWs, whether first time or working and returning to the Philipines since this will serve as your exit clearance before you can leave the country. If you are a direct-hire, you will need to go to POEA to acquire an OEC.

For first-time applicants, do not forget to register and set an OEC appointment schedule at bmappointment.poea.gov.ph.

How to Get an OEC for Direct Hire

If you’re hired directly, maybe as medical staff, finance personnel, accountant, or an engineer, through a friend or relative of yours in the countries like Canada, Japan, Singapore, New Zealand, Dubai, Australia, UAE, or Hong Kong, here are your steps to get an OEC.

To relocate and live as immigrants legally, one should have a regular/permanent contract to work abroad for a year or so. A direct hire by a family should undergo a process under the direct hiring policy implemented by the POEA to ensure that all OFWs are in the best shape and in the best environment once they are out of the country.

POEA has now banned all Filipino workers from direct hiring of foreign employers. This shall only be possible once an OFW was able to acquire assistance from POEA to attain their Overseas Employment Certificate or better known as OEC.

There will be requirements in order to qualify and obtain such a certificate. Although a direct-hire from a foreign employer is banned, the POEA exempts the following;

If you passed under those requirements, you’ll have to prepare yourself for different stages of acquiring and passing requirements to POEA.

For Stage 1, you’ll need to have the following POEA OEC requirements for direct-hire:

1. Passport with a validity period of not less than six (6) months
2. Valid work visa/entry work permit
3. Employment Contract
   1. Verified by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO)
   2. Authenticated by the Philippine Embassy/Consulate for countries with no POLO

4. Company profile, business permit/Commercial Registration of the employer
5. POLO endorsement letter addressed to the administrator seeking exemption from the ban on direct hiring
6. Additional country-specific requirement:
   1. Canada – Labor Market Opinion (LMO), Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) for Canadian Letter, and Employer’s Certificate of Registration from ECON
      (Province of Saskatchewan Executive Council) or Saskatchewan Immigration Nominee Program (SINP) is required from workers to Saskatchewan in lieu of LMO
   2. USA – Labor Condition Application and Notice of Action
   3. The Middle East and African countries – contingency plan issued by the employer

7. Additional documents to support application:
   1. Certificate of Employment or Business Permit (if self-employed)
   2. Diploma and Transcript of Records (TOR)
   3. NC II/PRC License
   4. Full Detailed Curriculum Vitae or Resume
8. Proof of Certificate of Insurance coverage covering at least the benefits provided under Section 37-A of RA 8042 as amended
9. Notarized Statement on how the worker secured his/her employment with attached photocopy of employer’s Passport/ID and contact details

For Stage 2, you’ll need to have the following requirements still agreed by the POEA in order to give you OEC certification:

1. Valid medical certificate from DOH-accredited medical clinic authorized to conduct medical exam for OFWs;
2. Pre-employment Orientation Seminar Certificate (PEOS); and
3. Pre-Departure Orientation Seminar (PDOS) Certificate issued by OWWA

7 Steps in Getting an OEC for Direct Hire:

1. From POEA, you must get a queue number from the security guard on the ground floor. It’s advisable to go there as early as possible so you’ll be able to finish early.
2. You may now proceed to the second floor where you’ll submit your documents except for PDOS and verification of all the documents. If you’re already an OFW, you will be then asked to get your record on the fifth floor.
3. All your documents will be placed inside of a folder and you will then be asked to fill out forms before getting a schedule for the PDOS which office is on the same floor as well.
4. Once you have obtained your certificate, you will need to have one (1) photocopy of it before proceeding to the re-verification of your documents.
5. For the next step, you will be paying necessary expenses and filled out forms for Pag-IBIG Fund and OWWA Membership. Here are the processing fees:
   • 100 USD for POEA Processing
   • 25 USD for OWWA Membership
   • ₱1,200.00 for Medicare
   • ₱100.00 for Pag-IBIG Fund
6. After payment, you will be given your OEC receipt that you will be showing to the airport which will also serve as your permit to enter the country.
7. Once the payment has been made they will give you an OEC Receipt (A 3-copy of receipts that you will be needed to show at the airport)

How did you Find a Job Abroad?

There are two ways that a potential OFW can find work abroad, one is either through agency-hired which means getting a job through a recruitment agency, or a direct-hire which means an employer has contacted and hired you for a job position abroad.

Verification of Agency’s Job Orders by POEA [JobVacancies]

While agency-hired OFWs do not have to worry much about processing their requirements since the agency will do that for them, the direct hire has to personally work on processing their documents before they can fly abroad.

How to request for exemption from the direct hiring policy?

DOLE has already banned OFWs who have been seeking exemptions on direct hiring policy. In accordance with Administrative Order No. 155 [1], series of 2017, no processing and issuance of OEC for all directly hired OFWs shall be undertaken until further orders for they are gathering more relevant information with regards to illegal extortion activities.

Complete List of Direct Hires with Approved POEA Clearance

How to check if I’m passed for Processing through the Direct Hire Assistance Division.

The POEA Direct Hire Assistance Division (DHAD) hereby serves notice to the following
workers whose Clearance from the ban on direct hiring was granted by the Administrator of POEA
and was received by the POEA DHAD.

Just visit: www.dmw.gov.ph/dhclearance/directhires.html see Instruction below.

The above-stated worker may proceed to your respective Regional Centers or Regional Extension

Units, or at Window 6, Second Floor, Direct Hire Assistance Division, Landbased Center from Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. for the issuance of your Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC).

Please bring original and photocopy of your documents.

Please print a copy of this notice and proceed to the Guard-On-Duty to get a schedule for Step 2 DHAD approval, encoding, releasing, payment of POEA processing fee (PhP equivalent of US$100.00) and OWWA membership (PHP equivalent of US$25.00). For workers who were processed at the POEA Regional Offices, your OECs shall be processed through the POEA Regional and Overseas Coordinating Office.

What is the Direct Hire Benefits?

The benefit of direct hire is mostly in favor of the skilled and professional workers because they don’t need to have to deal with NO placement and processing fees of recruitment agencies. 7

Although this may sound promising, direct hire OFWs are not recorded by POEA and OWWA which puts the employees at great risk abroad.

For more information, you may contact POEA’s contact number: 722-11-44 / 722-11-55 or email them at info@poea.gov.ph or visit their website www.poea.gov.ph. POEA is located at Ortigas Ave, Mandaluyong, Metro Manila.

Sure enough, obtaining requirements might be quite a job for most of us, especially the expenses we have to endure, along with the time and effort we have to pour in just to slowly reach our dreams of offering a better life to our loved ones.

But such requirements being obtained are meant to keep you safe and thoroughly protect your rights as a Filipino working abroad.

Sources: Polo Tokyo / Polo Singapore / buenosairespe.dfa.gov.ph / Polo Dubai
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