Overseas Filipino workers (OFW) aspiring to work in Oman will still have to wait until the end of the year after the Arab country extended it is moratorium in accepting migrant workers for certain sectors.
Citing a report from the Philippine Embassy in Muscat, Philippine Overseas Administrator Benard P. Olalia said the Omani government decided to extend the hiring ban for select foreign workers by another six months.
“The extension of the hiring ban will commence 30 July 2018,” Olalia said in POEA’s advisory No. 37, series of 2018.
Olalia, however, clarified the ban will not cover OFWs, who are already in Oman.
“The temporary ban does not include renewal of employment visas for existing workers,” Olalia said.
Oman is among the top 10 destinations for OFWs abroad. In 2016 it drew 27,579 OFWs, and 21,428 in 2015.
The number of deployment in Oman is expected to decline this year due to the prevailing moratorium.
This was already apparent in the decline of OFW cash remittances from the Arab country, which fell by 42.8 percent to $68 million for the first four months of the year from $118 million in the same period in 2017.
The Omani first implemented the hiring ban on January 24, 2018, and was supposed to end this month. The measure aims to increase the number of locals in the Omani workforce.
The moratorium covers 87 professions in the following employment sectors: information and technology; accounting and finance; marketing and sales; administrative and human resources; insurance; information/media professions; medical professions; airport professions; engineer professions; and technical professions.