No placement fee for Canada-bound OFWs
NEWS RELEASE
December 18, 2007
The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration warns recruitment
agencies against charging or collecting any recruitment and placement fee
from workers to be deployed to Canada and countries which have laws that
prohibit the same.
Administrator Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz said POEA Governing Board No. 4,
Series of 2001 and the 2002 POEA Rules and Regulations Governing the
Recruitment and Employment of Land-based Overseas Workers prohibit a
land-base agency from collecting any placement fee from workers who will
be deployed in any country where the prevailing system, either by law,
policy or practice does not allow said collection because the employer
shall pay the cost of placement and recruitment services.
The prohibition is specifically applicable to agencies that are deploying
workers to the Canada provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and
British Columbia.
Baldoz said that hiring of foreign workers in occupations that usually
require a high school diploma or a maximum of 2 years of job-specific
training (level C and D) under the Pilot Project of the Government of
Canada is also covered by the prohibition on collection of placement fee.
Under the prevailing policy of the Canada government, employers shall
cover all recruitment costs related to the hiring of the foreign workers
under the pilot project.
The POEA will cancel the license of the recruitment agency found violating
this policy.
