Jobseekers warned of bogus offers in UK

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine embassy in London urged yesterday Filipinos looking for employment in the United Kingdom to be more cautious following reports of rampant cases of bogus job offers on the Internet.

The embassy, through the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO), urged Filipino jobseekers to be more discerning as these online job offers are simply various schemes to defraud them.

Among the UK jobs offered to Filipino applicants lately include nannies, au pairs, hotel staff, store managers, salespersons and engineers.

“They should be wary of attractive jobs offered by the employers or their agents who would ask applicants to remit a certain amount of money purportedly to pay for the processing of their visas or work permits and other travel-related expenses,” the embassy said.

To ascertain the authenticity of job orders and employment contracts as well as the legitimacy of UK employers, UK-bound Filipino jobseekers are advised to check with the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA). They may also send their email-request for verification by POLO London at [email protected]. It is not enough to know if the employers really exist or that the jobs are available, the embassy said.

Jobseekers who have been ‘offered’ positions through the Internet should advise their prospective UK employers to submit the original copies of their employment documents to the POLO office at the Philippine embassy in London for verification and authentication.

“For their part, they should not rely on scanned documents sent to them by emails such as employment contract, appointment letters and the like, as most of these are found to be forged or fabricated,” the embassy said.

Job offers requiring applicants to pay or remit money are highly suspicious. Charging of fees, including payment for visa and ‘work permit’ expenses are generally prohibited under the UK employment regulations.

The new UK Points-Based Immigration System has done away with the work permit requirement, and is now replaced by the certificate of sponsorship. To be able to issue a certificate of sponsorship in favor of a candidate or applicant, the prospective UK employer should be duly licensed as a sponsor by the UK Border Agency (UKBA).

Filipino jobseekers should verify the status of their prospective employers in the list of sponsors, which can be found at the UKBA website www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk. Payment for the certificate of sponsorship is also shouldered by the UK employer.