The Surer, Safer Way for Dubai Dreamers

(Second of Two Parts)

Where dreams are, nightmares may not be far behind.  Come to Dubai and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) if you must, but know all of what you are in for.

Dubai and the whole UAE are saturated with a work force from a recorded total of 202 nationalities competing for jobs.  We know that Filipinos can compete and are talented, but the saturation compels some talents to take lesser jobs for lesser pays.

We also know now that some come as tourists and end up as legal workers lucky enough to have their 60-day UAE visit visas converted to work permits.  And we know that this can be done only through the sponsorship of licensed employers who pay a hefty sum.

Like anywhere else, employers come in different forms; some are considerate, some are inhuman.  But since it’s employers who pay for expat employees’ work permits, more often than not, they make the most of their investment by compelling employees to a work contract of not less than two years.

Most employers also hold employees’ passports, a standard practice to keep employees from escaping.  Some expat workers, Filipinos included, do escape for one reason or other, foremost of which is unkind employers who pay less than was promised or, worse, refuse to pay salaries outright.  The employees are thus considered ‘absconding.’

Heaven help absconders.  They are banned to work for six months and are compelled to pay their employers’ expenses, otherwise employers would cancel their work permits and wouldn’t sign ‘No Objection Certificates’ and release their passports.  Here lie other potential troubles.  Some employers, usually of small, struggling businesses, demand unbelievable repayments enough to sow terror and starve out-of-work absconders.

Household employees have it worse because they’re sometimes slapped with trumped-up charges of theft.  The helpless end up in jail.  Sadder still, there are cases when Filipino employers are the culprits themselves.

What happens when visit visas expire and holders still haven’t found jobs?  They have to exit either to the island of Kish in Iran or to Oman.  It means availing again of the services of travel agencies to process the renewal of their visit visas.

So what is your best shot at making it out in Dubai and the UAE?  May I repeat what I wrote about in this same column (LB, 11 November 2006).

The best way is still through the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).  Okay, this may take ages (considering tens of thousands of applicants) and much paperwork, but bear in mind that the trade-off is your personal safety, if not your life.
To go through the POEA is to be legally documented and insured by the government through your inclusion in the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).  It means you have the Philippine government behind you.

The next best thing is recruitment and placement agencies.  But always check first the legal existence of these private agencies.  The nearest labor office is your surest bet.  It has a list of legal agencies and can countercheck their existence better.

Though these agencies may mean more expenses, your job placement may be faster.  And if they were legal and duly registered with the DOLE, you would also be properly and legally documented and have the government behind you.

Never sign anything you cannot read.  Some workers sign papers upon arrival.  Some papers turn out to be contracts in Arabic offering half the pay that they’ve signed a contract for with a placement agency back home.
Always know the address and contact numbers of the nearest Philippine embassy or consulate or Philippine Overseas Labor Office – Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (POLO – OWWA) office.

Government representatives cannot really be expected to know the estimated quarter of a million Filipinos, much less the undocumented ones, here in this heaving megalopolis of a country.  And not all emirates (luckily, Dubai is one of the exceptions) bother to inform them about missing or imprisoned Filipinos, unlike in other countries.

Modern-day heroes, our country says of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). How apt, because to be this kind of hero isn’t for the fainthearted.  It occurred to me that I never encouraged any of my young professional nephews and nieces to come to Dubai despite my presence here.

(3 May 2008)