POEA Registration for Direct Hires

I got through POEA yesterday and I finished the whole process in one day.

Here are the set of tips for all you OFW who are planning to register in POEA. (This tips may and may not be included in the generic POEA procedure found in the poea website. www.poea.gov.ph)

1. Be there as early as 6 am. The gates are open very early for those who want to register. I was in POEA by 6:30am and there are already 30 people ahead of me. And do not bother to bring a friend or your parents with you, because you, who is going to register, are the only one allowed inside. You need to show your papers at the guard in the entrance.

And please take a bath and brush you’re teeth before you go to POEA.

2. Bring all the papers you have. Bring the Original and a Photocopy of everything;. Put all of the documents inside a long folder. All originals should be stapled at the left side of the folder and all photocopies to the right.

a) Passport
b) Visa
c) Employment Contract (Verified by the POLO or Phil. embassy in the country of your destination. as necessary).

Make sure that your contract states that your employer will pay the repatriation of your remains in case you die while working overseas. If you don’t have this document, POEA will provide you this document but you need to fax or email this document to your employer and have them sign this and email it back to you. You have to have this notarized as well. Huwag na kayong magtangka na doctorin ang pirma ng employer niyo para mapabilis lang. May nahuling isang nagdoctor ng pirma at hindi tinanggap ang papeles niya.

d) One piece of 2×2 picture for medical referral. If you already have a medical certificate, it should be from a DOH accredited clinic. Bring ALL of the documents provided by the clinic. No need to bring your X-ray film.

If your documents are not complete, if its possible, have your papers completed before you got to POEA. This saves a lot of time for the OFWs who already have complete papers and probably is in a hurry because their flight is already scheduled.

Pinakamatagal na process at ang Evaluating of papers. 630am ako nasa POEA, 1130am na ako natawag. No. 31 of 100 ako. Matagal ang process na ito kasi POEA is making sure that all your papers are authentic para na rin sa ating kapakanan.

3. Know the PDOS schedule. The PDOS schedule is as follows:

8:00 am – Americas and Europe.
10:00 am – Middle East and Africa
1:00 pm – Asia and Pacific.

MONDAY AND THURSDAYS ONLY.

I was lucky to finish everything in one day because I was able to catch the 1pm PDOS. If you’re bound for Asia, you can go very early to POEA, have your papers be evaluated in the morning, attend the PDOS at 1pm and pay in the afternoon. If you’re bound for Middle East, you can finish everything in one day provided you are very early in POEA to catch the first 10 slots for pre-evaluation and you already have your medical documents with you. Those who are bound for Americas and Europe, can only finish POEA in 2 days. You can not go through PDOS without getting your papers pre-evaluated.

4. READ! All procedures and instructions are written everywhere, you just have to read. You have to read all the papers that are provided to you by the POEA employees as well.

I put this tip here to save the POEA employees the annoyance of questions from people who choose to ignore the instruction boards and the instructions written on the papers. This does not to imply that you mustn’t ask questions, pero kung nasa harapan mo naman ang sagot bakit kailangan mo pang istorbohin yung mga clerk. Natatagalan pa tuloy sila sa ginagawa nila, kaya lalong tumatagal yung pila.

5. OFW E-cards are not issued anymore. You will only get a E-receipt. The E-receipt is your Overseas Employment Certificate. The E-receipt should be 3 pieces – one for you, for the Ticket Booth and Terminal Fee Booth in the airport. I paid 6,575 Pesos all in all.

That’s all. Hope this helps. Goodluck and God Bless sa ating lahat!