Filipinos are finding it difficult to visit the UAE because of the red tape that exists at three of the big departure points from the Philippines.
Officials confirmed that strict travel restrictions are still in place at airports despite the fact that authorities scrapped the requirement for a notarised declaration and an affidavit of support.
"Our screening does not affect legitimate travellers. Only those who are vulnerable to exploitation or those who may be bound for Iraq using the UAE or Jordan as transit points are affected," Edgardo Mendoza, chief of the Regulation Division of Manila's Bureau of Immigration, told Gulf News by telephone.
The affidavit of support was made necessary for Filipino residents to sponsor a person who is not an immediate relative on visit.
He also confirmed that the travel ban to Iraq still stands. New passports issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) now come with a stamp saying "not valid for travel to Iraq."
The immigration bureau's requirements contradict the announcement of Libran Cabactulan, the Philippine Ambassador to the UAE, who said they no longer attest affidavits of support for the purpose of travel to the UAE.
Cabactulan said: "The DFA does not require the affidavit as it causes inconvenience to our countrymen travelling to the UAE. We have stopped attesting them in Abu Dhabi and Dubai as well."
The apparent miscommunication between the two government departments has affected thousands of travellers. Manila has used the affidavit as a valve to control the flow of Filipinos travelling to the UAE, Saipan, South Korea, Papua New Guinea and other countries.
"Our instructions are clear to carefully screen passengers who might end up being exploited if they don't know exactly where they're going or who will take care of them overseas," said Mendoza, who is in charge of hundreds of officers and intelligence agents with the bureau.
UAE-based travel and tour companies who sponsor Filipinos have complained that hundreds of their passengers were not allowed to board their flights at major airports.
A travel agent said 50 passengers under his company's sponsorship have been prevented from leaving Manila and Cebu.
"The notarisation and affidavit of support have both been scrapped, so where should we go? Immigration officials still require our passengers to produce them. It's a big headache."
Another agent said: "The immigration people tell our passengers to produce papers that are no longer issued from here."
Some notary publics in Dubai are said to have stopped notarising the declaration, dismissing it as "unnecessary" and a "waste of money."
Two months ago, the Philippine Embassy in the UAE told its citizens that a notarised undertaking was required.
Mendoza admitted that "off-loading" passengers who already possess a valid return ticket, passport and visa, subverts freedom of movement. But he said: "We are just doing our job, implementing official policy."
Many Filipino "tourist workers" who paid exorbitant fees to agents to come to the UAE are unable to land a job within their visa's validity period and end up begging or trying to make a living by doing menial jobs.
Travel agents, working with illegal recruiters in Manila, charge 50,000 to 150,000 pesos (Dh10,000) from each recruit.
Agents also confiscate the passport and return tickets of passengers they sponsor upon arrival in the UAE, or issue dummy return tickets. Many do find jobs, but those who do not, end up begging and borrowing money for a one-way ticket home or to Kish Island. Many victims have gone home empty-handed and with huge debts incurred for their misadventure.
Gary M., a community leader, said there were consequences to removing the need for an affidavit of support.
"I can already hear the laughter of illegal recruiters. Let's wait and see the influx of gullible Filipinos running here and there, crying for help with tales of how they have been victimised. Nobody realises that those who kept complaining about the requirements are only those opportunists taking advantage of the situation."
Lack of communication between departments
- Immigration officials in the Philippines say that a notarised declaration and an affidavit of support was necessary for Filipinos wanting to travel to the UAE. The affidavit must be issued by the missions in the UAE
- However, Philippines Ambassador Libran Cabactulan said the missions have stopped attesting affidavits of support since the Department of Foreign Affairs no longer insists on its requirement
- The trouble for travellers starts at the exit points in the Philippines when the Bureau of Immigration insists on the affidavit of support even though the travellers have a valid visit visa and return ticket
Gulf News
