KUWAIT CITY, July 15: The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) in the Philippines recently issued a circular on the resumption of the recruitment of Filipino professional and skilled workers bound for Kuwait. The Arab Times obtained a copy of Memorandum Circular No. 01 Series of 2024 on the accreditation mechanism, required documents, processing of contracts, and ways of protecting the workers.

According to the circular, “the existing procedures under Part III Rule 1 of the 2023 DMW Rules and Regulations Governing the Recruitment and Employment of Landbased Overseas Filipino Workers for the verification of accreditation documents, approval and revalidation of job orders of foreign employers/principal, foreign recruitment agency (FRA) and onsite accreditation outlined under Memorandum Circular No. 16, Series of 2022 are hereby implemented.” The circular enumerated the necessary documents for “the processing and issuance of Overseas Employment Clearance (OECs)” for the abovementioned workers as follows:

1. Accreditation Certificate with approved job order issued by the Migrant Workers Office (MWO) in Kuwait as registered by the Landbased Accreditation Bureau (LAB) in the system;
2. Master employment contract duly verified by the MWO-Kuwait;
3. Copies of the worker’s employment documents such as valid passport, employment visa or work permit, certificate of medical fitness, and certificate of attendance to the required employment orientation briefing.

On the processing of contracts, the circular explained that “the qualified Licensed Recruitment Agency (LRA) will be allowed to process the documents of their workers through the existing Online Processing System for Landbased professional and skilled workers and pay the fees for the issuance of the OEC.”

The circular includes a stipulation on protecting the workers; indicating that employers who wish to hire professional and skilled workers from the Philippines should have no welfare cases record and this must be certified by the MWO in Kuwait. It also stipulates the formation of a Joint Technical Working Group, whose members are from the concerned authorities in Kuwait and the Philippines.

The group will “monitor, discuss and address issues and concerns” of both the employers and employees. The DMW affirmed that this circular is effective immediately, adding that it will issue another set of guidelines for the resumption of the recruitment of domestic workers from the Philippines.