The SUN HK : PinoyCare in new DMW warning against job offers by visa consultancies

PinoyCare is the only visa consultancy firm linked to the latest warning on illegal recruitment

The Department of Migrant Workers has issued another warning against visa or immigration consultancy firms offering jobs to Filipinos in such places as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Italy and Malta without first securing a licence from the Department.

The warning came with a photo of PinoyCare Visa Center Inc., one of the companies linked to Prisca Nina Mabatid, who according to the National Bureau of Investigation during a Senate committee hearing last Feb. 13, has been charged with large-scale illegal recruitment and syndicated estafa.

The DMW said it is illegal for these unlicensed visa consultancy firms to offer jobs abroad.

Buksan ang mga tip

Anyone who has been promised an overseas job by a visa or migration consultancy firm is encouraged to report to the DMW so all those behind the illegal employment offer, including their agents or staff, can be prosecuted.

This is the second time the DMW has served public notice that visa or immigration consultancy firms are not allowed to offer jobs abroad in whatever guise unless they are licensed recruitment agencies.

Pindutin para sa detalye

In September last year, eight visa consultancy firms were named in a similar advisory including Opportunities Abroad, another company linked to Mabatid.

The others were Triumph Global Recruitment Services, JM International Services, PWG, Cis Group Manpower Sp, Gateway Visa Solution, Mars Immigration Inc. and Maplekraft Management Consultancies.

TAWAG NA!

The warning said: “Ang mga visa consultancy firm ay walang lisensya o authority mula sa Department of Migrant Workers na mag-recruit ng mga OFW para magtrabaho sa ibang bansa.” (Visa consultancy firms do not have a license or authority from the Department of Migrant Workers to recruit OFWs to work abroad.

Mabatid has been summoned to appear at the next hearing of the Senate Committee on Migrant Workers on Feb. 28, to explain why she should not be held in contempt for failing to appear in an earlier hearing o Feb. 13.

PINDUTIN ITO

The Senate committee is looking into the complaints of some 150 Filipinos, including about 20 in Hong Kong, who claimed they were enticed by Mabatid to apply for student visas to Canada on the pretext that they would go there on a work-study program. Each paid a processing fee of no less than P100,000.

All the complainants said they were given a long list of requirements that were disclosed only after they had paid the processing fee to the company, and were made to sign a memorandum of agreement forbidding them to ask for a refund, whatever the outcome of their application.

After payment, the complainants said they were given a run-around by staff at the company so that they never got close to actually lodging a student visa application with the Canadian consulate or embassy.

When they pressed for the return of their money, a number of the complainants were issued a letter from a lawyer of Opportunities Abroad, warning them that they had breached the no-refund clause in their agreement, for which they could be made to pay P500,000 in damages.