Illegal recruiters and illegal recruitment agencies are the vicious enemies of the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW). The goal of these people and agencies is to trick the OFWs and earn a lot of money from it.
Many Filipinos were tricked by illegal recruitment agencies. Some of these agencies asked money for the “quick” processing of documents and other things. After receiving a lot of money from prospecting Filipino workers, these heartless people were suddenly gone without a trace. I saw a lot of victims crying about their lost money. Some even sold their property just to pay the illegal recruiters.
These incidents could have been avoided if the victims were more careful. The victims should first checked with the POEA if the recruiter or agency that were “hiring” them were legitimate.
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POEA stands for Philippine Overseas Employment Administration. It is an office under the Department of Labor (DoLE), which deals with employment outside of the country. All recruitment agencies are required by law to register with POEA. Thus, the POEA is the agency that can tell if the recruitment agency is illegal or not.
Legitimate recruitment agencies are duly registered to POEA. These registered recruitment agencies are called as POEA accredited agencies.
One of the important resource of POEA is its “List of Accredited Agencies”, which can be accessed on this page of the POEA website.
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| A page on the List of POEA Accredited Agencies. |
The information on the list is detailed. You can see the name of the recruitment agency, its address, contact information and its official representative. The important information on this list is the status of the recruitment agency. You will know if the agency has a valid license. This is the easy way of knowing if the recruitment agency that is hiring you is illegal or not.
The “List of Accredited Agencies” also has a search box that you can use in searching for information about a recruitment agency.
Working abroad is never easy, especially when there are evil people out there who are out to deceive you. Don't be a victim. Use POEA's list of accredited agencies to protect yourself and your money from illegal recruiters and agencies.
If you need more information about your recruitment agency, please call POEA's hotline numbers: 722-1144 and 722-1155. You can also email POEA at this address: info@poea.gov.ph
Visit the POEA website for more information.
Read my article about POEA's checklist for those who are planning to work outside of the Philippines. The checklist contains step-by-step procedures that all OFWs should follow.
Read my article about POEA's checklist for those who are planning to work outside of the Philippines. The checklist contains step-by-step procedures that all OFWs should follow.
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Do you have any question about POEA's list of accredited agencies? Please tell us your question by leaving a comment.
