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| OFWs renewing their contracts will now be able to skip going to the Consulate and Polo |
Filipino domestic workers who are renewing their employment
contracts will now be able to skip going to the Philippine Overseas Labor
Office and instead, go directly to Hong Kong Immigration to apply for their new
visa.
The new procedure was announced yesterday, Mar 23, by Labor
Attache Mel Dizon, who said it was due to “the current situation in Hong Kong brought by the Covid-19 pandemic.”
He said the directive was to take effect immediately “until
further notice.”
This means a total savings of $280 per worker, as
previously, the contract had to go to the Philippine Overseas Labor Office for
verification, which costs $80, and to the Philippine Consulate for the “red
ribbon” (authentication), at $200 per.
However, those who are moving to a new employer, either
because they had finished their contract, or it was terminated prematurely,
will have to hire an employment agency to work on their new visa.
This in turn means, their employer will have to pay an agency fee
ranging from $5000 (for direct-hire processing) to at least $10,000.
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In the past, a worker applying for transfer to a new
employer after completing her previous two-year contract could do the entire
process on her own.
The same is true for those with ID 522, or those allowed to process
a new employment contract without exiting Hong Kong
in exceptional cases, as when their employer terminated their contract for
financial reason, or was relocating to another country.
Only those whose contracts had been cut before expiration for reasons not included in the exemptions, were required to go through an agency, as they had to exit Hong
Kong to await their new work visa.
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At least one Filipino worker who had just applied for a
renewal of her work contract welcomed the move, saying the process took a lot
faster than before, as she didn’t have to line up at Polo for hours just to get
the verification.
Irene Dollente said all she paid was $230 for the visa,
which she got on the same day. In the past, completing the process would have
cost her at least $280 extra, apart from several days of waiting for the
contract to be released.
However, some migrant leaders are concerned that even those
who could previously process new contracts on their own will now have to go
through agencies, and pay thousands of dollars in fees.
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This is particularly worrying, especially since many of the
new terminations nowadays are Covid-19 related, meaning the employer is forced
to release the worker because of financial problems.
“Doble-kara” ang advisory. Habang pinasimple, pinadali at
binawasan ng gastos ang mga contract renewal, isinubo naman sa mga buwayang
ahensya ang mga lilipat sa bagong employer, ” said Eman Villanueva of Bayan
Muna Hong Kong and Macau .
“And with the looming threat ng mass termination dahil sa
mass unemployment at recession sa Hong Kong, many will have to transfer to new
employers. Marami ang masasaktan dito.”
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| Villanueva calls for all contract processing to be done by HK Immigration |
Villanueva said it would have been better if all new
contracts were allowed to be processed directly by HK Immigration, as the new
arrangement clearly shows Polo does not really have a role in completing the
process.
But according to a group representing various accredited
agencies, the new circular will not make things easier for them, either, in
light of the pandemic.
Irene Leung, general manager of the Association of Hong Kong
Manpower Agencies, said a worker who is terminated will still have to go home,
and because of travel restrictions, could have difficulty returning to Hong Kong .
Leung also said that since the circular
took effect, no worker transferring to another employer by choice or due to
termination has yet processed her contract with any of their member agencies.
She said the only difference now
is terminated workers can apply to extend their visa for up to a month to look
for a new employer, instead of the previous 14 days.
The SUN tried to get additional information from Labor
Attache Dizon on his directive, but he reiterated an earlier request that the
questions be written down, as they needed to be pre-approved by the Department
of Labor and Employment in Manila
A Polo insider, however, said the new procedure was prompted
by a directive from the home office to adopt stringent measures to protect both
the workers and Polo/Owwa staff from the risk of infection.
“Just imagine, if a worker comes here to file her contract and
gets infected, that would force us to stop processing and close the premises
for disinfection,” the source said.
He added the measure will definitely lighten Polo’s
workload, as it used to receive about 200 applications for contract renewal on
a daily basis.
The source said it had nothing to do with a long-standing
request by some agencies that all the contract processing, whether for renewal,
transfer or new hires, be coursed through them, ostensibly to avoid
overcrowding in Polo.
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