More than a year has passed since the body of a Filipina domestic helper was found inside a refrigerator in an abandoned apartment in Kuwait, which caused outrage from the Philippine government and almost permanently ended labour ties between the two nations. What good that came out of the incident was that both countries were [...]

There are only certain occasions when Filipinos truly unite as a nation: an important sports event (e.g. boxing match), an international pageant or competition (e.g. Ms. Universe), and lastly during Election Day. ALSO READ: Embassy Announces New Contract System for Filipino Domestic Workers But more than exercising our right to vote, Election Day has longer [...]

As the government pushes for a more homogeneous society – addressing the population imbalance between foreign nationals versus citizens, which is currently at 70-30 respectively, various government bodies are adjusting their procedures and systems to accommodate the direction the national government is headed for. ALSO READ: Gov’t Passes Bill to Tax Expats 5% on Remittances [...]

As the government looks to address the population imbalance in the country, as well as to provide more jobs particularly from the private sector to citizens, there have been new measures set in place by the various residency affairs officials to deal with the current problem in the country. ALSO READ: Panel to Recommend ‘Harshest’ [...]

For many years, expats including overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have eyed the Middle East for the attractive salaries and benefits the countries offer, not to mention the no-tax rule in GCC member nations. However, with plans to impose a value added tax scheme in countries such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait, things are [...]

Following the government’s discomfort over the fact of the ever-growing expat communities in the country to date, lawmakers are hard at work in coming up with measures and legislation to enforce some kind of control over this phenomenon, which they claim is robbing the citizens the opportunity to work. ALSO READ: Massive Gov’t Campaign Targeting [...]

With the issue on the ever-widening gap between the local and expat communities in the country, it’s almost quite impossible to expect any decision from the government that would benefit expat communities in terms of residency in the country, at least not in the near future. This supposition comes with the other recent major decisions [...]

With the Ministry of Interior’s decision to scrap the use of residence stickers on the passports of expats now in full effect, a number of expats have expressed difficulty completing their travel procedures as some countries allegedly lack full knowledge on the new decision. The initiative, which was launched by the government last March 10, [...]

We’ve seen how the government has designed legislation and tightened policies when it comes to immigration, work, and entry of foreign nationals in the country. The initiatives were classified in accordance with the national government’s bid to free up more jobs to nationals, and at the same time control the number of expat communities in [...]