POEA Administrator Bernard Olalia has warned Filipinos against taking up offers to work as domestic helpers in Russia.
He said no working visas for foreign domestic helpers are being issued at the moment by the Russian government.
This means Filipinos cannot stay and work legally as domestic helpers in that country.
“There are currently no jobs for Filipinos as domestic helpers in Russia,” Olalia said, adding that OFWs who now work in Russia as domestics are using commercial visas which do not really allow them to work legally as domestics in that country.
He made the remarks at the Global Online Conference of Overseas Filipinos held at PTTC in Pasay city by the Alliance of Overseas Filipinos, a Hong Kong-based NGO.
Pagcor, Stradcom Corp., PLDT and Maynilad sponsored the conference shown live and watched by more than 22,000 overseas Filipinos in Hong Kong, Singapore and other countries in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America.
AOFC is holding on July 2 a follow-up Global Online Conference of Overseas Filipinos and information is available from Linkpad, Inc. at 0908-6199582, 0917-5932000 or globalonlineconference@gmail.com
Jeffrey Valdez, vice consul at the Philippine embassy in Moscow, said the Philippines has had talks with Russia on the proposed issuance of working visas to Filipino domestics in that country. But it remains unclear when these talks will produce concrete results, he said.
In the meantime, unscrupulous Filipino nationals in Russia, Hong Kong and Manila are illegally recruiting OFWs to work in Russia with promises of salaries as high as US$2,000 a month, according to Nhie Lopos, an officer of OFWs in Russia Support Groups.
“Life and work as illegal workers in Russia are very, very hard so OFWs should not come here. OFWs should not believe recruiters because they just collect money, but they don’t provide employers and working visas,” she warned.