OFWs repatriated from Kuwait now at 1,500: DFA

FILE: On Monday, the DFA received the first batch of workers who were repatriated on three commercial flights that left Kuwait on Sunday afternoon. (PNA photo)

MANILA — With around 130 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who arrived in Manila from Kuwait Saturday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the number of repatriates from the Gulf state has reached 1,500.

DFA said majority of these are household service workers who are grantees of the amnesty from the Kuwaiti government.

The OFWs hail from different provinces in the Philippines, particularly from the Visayas and Mindanao.

The most recent batch of repatriated OFWs are among the 10,000 overstaying OFWs that DFA-Office of Migrant Workers Affairs (OMWA) and the Embassy are working to repatriate.

At present, DFA-OMWA and the Embassy are negotiating with the Kuwaiti government to extend the amnesty program for three months.

The said program will allow OFWs who overstayed their work visas to leave the Gulf state without any fines or penalties.

The program will also allow OFWs without proper work documents to process the necessary papers that will allow them to work legally in Kuwait.

Most of the undocumented OFWs in Kuwait, DFA said, are victims of illegal recruitment and many of them were recruited through social media and entered Kuwait through other neighboring countries.

DFA-OMWA and the Embassy, for its part, have been launching information campaigns educating and warning all Filipinos from falling prey to illegal recruiters.

Succeeding batches of repatriated OFWs are expected to arrive in the following days, DFA added.