The country's deployment prohibition on foreign migrant workers to India has been abolished by the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), and the processing of both new hiring and rehires may now resume.
According to the Advisory No. 2 series of 2023, dated January 19 and signed by Undersecretary Bernard Olalia, the DMW requested the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) opinion in response to many requests from worried employees.
According to the advisory, the DFA stated the following as justifications for considering the appeals in response to the DMW's request.
First, India has passed laws protecting the rights of workers, including migrants, under its labor and social laws.
The second is that India is a signatory to fundamental labor agreements, and the third is that “although there is no bilateral labor agreement between the Philippines and India, there is already an ongoing negotiation on providing Filipino migrant workers social security coverage.”
When the deployment prohibition was lifted, the DMW stated that employment contract processing may resume as long as it received the proper authentication from the Philippine Embassy in New Delhi, India.
The guidance makes it clear that home service employees will not be allowed to be deployed until India has received complete certification as a compliant nation under Republic Act 8402 or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995, as amended by Republic Act 10022.
According to information provided to them by the Philippine Embassy in New Delhi, the DMW started suspending worker deployments to India on December 5, 2022, through the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration Advisory No. 77, Series of 2022. This was done in response to India being listed as a non-compliant destination country for overseas Filipino workers.
According to information currently available, there are about 2,000 Filipinos living and working in India, and most of them are professionals and skilled employees.
