Posted by
july8
18 yrs ago
I signed a contact to employ my helper one and half month ago,the helper is in the philipines and already did the PDOS so we are just waiting to have the visa issue in these days,but all the sudden my agency told me that now the helper have to do a 286 hours course before she come here.Basically it will take an other month to get her here if is true...
Can this law be applied to my helper even if our contract have been signed long ago?
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Not a HK law/requirement but sounds like a Philippine one - Phil. want to get more for their helpers around the world by making them 'better' qualified.
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I haven't heard of such a law,unless the law is new since Dec 31, my family just hired new helpers, and my friends.... all came within 4-6 weeks from Philippines.
Sounds like a "rule" by the agency, like Technic, they make their "girls" take a course (they have to pay)... and then they get certificate, and then they say they are trained to come to work in HK.
Contact your agency again and ask them WHO set this rule/law?
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TC
18 yrs ago
There HAS been a new law enforced in PH since Christmas. One of the new rules is that a helper must be 25 years old to be allowed to leave the country to work overseas, the only exceptions being those who are either already on a contract and those who are between contracts and signed their new contract while in HK. There may well be other bits included in the new law, but I'm not sure. I think best to check it out with the PH consulate.
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miffy
18 yrs ago
I am struggling with the new requirements too. There is now a 'competency requirement' which must be met before a helper is allowed out of the country. I understand that the competency requirement can be met by the provision of references, assuming the helper has experience. If not, you're right there is som sort of course that they have to do. It is not agency related, it is government set. I haven't been able to find anything on the internet about it - unfortunately your best bet is trying the PH consulate hotline, which I personally found to be an unprofessional nightmare that took up an entire morning for me and got me nowhere.
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I called up my agency today to find out about this new regulation. (We are awaiting for our new helper to arrive for our in laws.)
According to my agency- since Dec 15, 2006, The Philippines government set out a new regulation that for a DH to leave the country to work abroad, they must take a "training" course of 286 hours before they can leave. Although our application was submitted BEFORE Dec 15, if the visa is not issued to your DH now, they will include all of these applications under this new regulation. There is an exam they have to take, about 1000 pesos ( about $ 150 HKD). THEN, the DH can come.
I was shocked b/c we were hoping she can arrive by next week. Now, my agency said, it's very corrupted, all they are going to do now is just PAY and BUY the certificate for the DHs. BUT, they do have to take the exam.
I don't know WHO has to go through this b/c the specifics are very unclear still. I am wondering what about my helper who will go home after renewing the contract ? This helper we hired is from HK, she was terminated, and just went home to wait for our application. WHY does she have to go through this course? How about DHs who worked in HK for over 10 years, and go home, and then before they leave, do they have to take this ?
They say it lets the Filipinas DH to have better reputation.... b/c they are well trained..... but I think this will deter employers rather than give them more confidence. Esp HK employers, they just want FAST processing and cheap. THis is definitely not going to help.
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TC
18 yrs ago
The training requirements don't apply to everyone. They certainly apply to people who haven't had an overseas contract before, but not sure who else. Has anyone done a search on the PH government website? With (a) such a new law, and (b) the 'unusual' communications situation in PH it is natural there's a lot of confusion. But if people are going to hire helpers from PH then they need to be aware of the new rules, like them or not.
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Mag05
18 yrs ago
I don't think it a very bad idea at all when speaking about young and new to the field DHs. My DH had a reference letter from her employer in Phil. where she worked for 2 years. I assumed she had some experience, but when she arrived she could do NOTHING at all! It took me ages to teach her everything: cleaning, ironing, washing hands before cooking, not to be late to pick children after school. I work full-time, so I was rather irritated.
Then she told me that her employer in the Phil was her aunt! In other words, she has never had experience at all, but her aunt gave her the letter. If I were to check, the aunt would confirm that my DH worked for her for 2 years.
I hope that the new law will force new DHs to learn at least something before coming to HK.
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2006
18 yrs ago
286 hours to become a maid? What do they teach them? You can probably become a dentist with fewer tuition contact hours than that!
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miffy
18 yrs ago
Ah starbunyip - from your reply to my thread suggesting an agency, I was wondering if you had just managed to miss out on this. Actually, I was hoping that your helper had overseas experience and had been exempted. I personally am completely against the course, and think the whole thing is absolutely outrageous, including the time and cost it is going to take to get a helper over here. Yes, TC I have looked extensively on the PH gov websites and can't find anything (OWWA, TESDA etc). The consulate here gave me the impression that the training requirement would be exempted with sufficient references, but that was in December and I had no idea what they were talking about at the time so could have got that wrong. If that's not true, I'm afraid that our new helper who I have searched long and hard for may not be able to get the job as we are expecting our first baby and need her over here sooner rather than later. What a nightmare. It seems to me that it will soon be a necessity to employ helpers who have been terminated and have to leave the country to get their visas reprocessed, as opposed to those who have finished their contracts and can stay. What an unfair situation.
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well, the DH I am waiting too arrive in HK has worked in HK before, then why is SHE having to take this course. Even just 2 weeks,it seems so dumb. Like I said, my agency said, the agent in Philippines said, they are all just arranging to BUY this certificate. So it's just a $$$ scheme.
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HI Katetam,
I know that you have just signed a helper that has just been terminated. DO you have to process her employment visa thru an agent or can you do it on your own?
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TC
18 yrs ago
Unbelievable? Come on, we are talking about the PH government here! And fairness doesn't come into it. Yes, the new rules are applied at the time the helper tries to leave PH, not when her contract was signed. If enough people move away from hiring PH nationals in favour of someone else then maybe someone will review the effectiveness of the new law for ALL parties concerned. In theory the law has been implemented to protect new employers from hiring supposedly-experienced helpers when in fact all references & employment history has been faked. I don't know of too many other situations where an employer would employ someone (to live in the employer's house, take care of the employer's children etc) without a personal interview etc. So many people who are regular participants on this forum expect expect that to work with everyone living happily ever after - but that only happens in nursery rhymes.
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hi rainbow,
Yes, the helper was terminated after 1 year in HK, and we used an agency to process the contract, and the visa and medical...etc. Whole package. But many big agencies, and including this site's agency, will not do it for DH who are terminated.
I think you can definitely process the documents/contract on your own no matter what the situation is with the DH. Just matter of how much of a headache you get with each case.
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Here is another unbelivable case. I am expecting my helper arriving tomorrow afternoon. Her visa was approved back in December 2006. However, I was just informed by the agency yesterday that my helper can not come because of this new law. How crazy and frustrating!!! I looked up POEA website and tried to find more about this new law. No luck!
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Here is another unbelivable case. I am expecting my helper arriving tomorrow afternoon. Her visa was approved back in December 2006. However, I was just informed by the agency yesterday that the helper can not come because of this new law. How crazy and frustrating!!! I looked up POEA website and tried to find more about this new law. No luck! Just don't understand how could the agency not know this earlier until this last minute!
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july8
18 yrs ago
Ok ,now the agency told me I have to pay HK$1500 for this course,how do I know that is it the right price?Is it publish somewhere so I can check the fix rate?I'm feeling cheated with all this situation
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my agency told me it's $1500 pesos, so that's about $ 200.00 HKD.
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july8
18 yrs ago
So would be HK$ 200 or HK$ 1500???.How come from agency to agency so different prices?
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My helper is arriving this week. She didn't take the training, and I have to pay only $1000 pesos for some "administration" fees. She had to take this test before she can leave Philippines.
I asked about whether it's $ 1500 for the training... as someone mentioned previously, I was curious. My agency said, it depends on the situation and background of the helper. NEW helpers, never been to HK definitely have to go through that training course, $ 1500 HKD. It's true.
My was a terminated DH who worked in Hk previously, so she just have to take the test.
But the word from my agency was it's still easy this week, starting next week, any DH who didn't get the visa issued yet, will have to have ALL documentation, and certificates, and the training course....etc before they can even apply to leave the country to work abroad.
So, it depends on the situation and background of your helper.
Good luck.
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