A Filipino recruitment agency has lost its licence after it was found to have deployed overseas workers under false visas.

A statement from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), released today [23 March], said the licence of Chanceteam International Services had been revoked.

Chanceteam’s scheme was uncovered when the country’s Bureau of Immigration stopped two Dubai-bound domestic workers boarding their plane when they both presented two visas for different positions but with the same permit numbers. 

In the statement, POEA administrator Hans Cacdac said the workers received POEA-approved visas to work as a cashier and a hairdresser but were destined for jobs as a housemaid and a nanny, as their additional visas showed.

“This is a clear case of reprocessing that constitutes misrepresentation to circumvent the POEA rules on recruitment and placement of household service workers,” he said.

Officers and directors of the agency at the time the offences took place were disqualified from the business of recruitment and placement of overseas Filipino workers. 

The POEA must approve visas for all Filipino overseas workers.