Filipino H2s being charged recruitment fees

by Lannie Walker

Guam - Philippine Counsel General Bayani Mercardo wants to stop the illegal practice of charging recruitment fees to H2 workers seeking employment on Guam. The United States has a no recruitment fee policy that Mercardo says some Philippine nationals may not be aware of.

Mercardo says he is working with U.S. State Department's Fraud Prevention Unit - the agency that confirmed the processing of applications for work visas from Filipino workers headed to Guam and have admitted to paying recruitment fees.  Mercardo says prospective workers could be illegally charged more than a month's salary and risk losing much more than that.

"If they paid and the U.S. Embassy later learns that they paid a fee to work here, their H2 visa will be revoked they will be sent home," Mercardo said.  The counsel general says companies caught charging fees will also face severe penalties.

He says officials in the Philippines in charge of the deployment of workers to overseas destinations will meet the U.S. Department of Fraud Prevention this week in an effort to stop the illegal activity.