Philippines Labor Secretary Suspends OECs until 1/12/2017

The Secretary for Labor in the Philippines has temporarily suspended the issuance of Overseas Employment Certificates while they do some "investigation". The Overseas Employment Certificate OEC is issued to a worker who will leave the Philippines to work overseas. The OEC is issued AFTER the person has received a travel visa from the country to which they are deploying. Even if your helper has a visa to work in Hong Kong, they cannot leave the Philippines without an OEC. If your helper is expected to arrive in Hong Kong in late November or early December there will almost certainly be a delay. MAKE ARRANGEMENTS FOR OUTSIDE HELP ASAP. If your helper is expected to arrive late December or early January there may still be delays. The last line of the notice says "subject to extension as circumstances may require". 

What can you do? Call and write the Philippines Consulate and complain. Talk to the Hong Kong Labor Department and ask them to pressure their Philippines counterpart to deal with the problem in a less disruptive way. 

Philippines Overseas Labor Office: polo.hongkong@yahoo.com
Hong Kong Labor: enquiry@labour.gov.hk

If you need your helper asap, make some noise!