Question & AnswerQ&A (POEA MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 03, S. 2007)
Landbased agencies are prohibited from charging and collecting any placement fee from workers to be deployed in any country, including Canada, where the prevailing system by law, policy, or practice does not allow such charging and collection of placement fees.
The employer in Canada is responsible for defraying all the costs of placement and recruitment services for workers deployed there.
The provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia prohibit the charging of recruitment and placement fees to any person seeking employment.
A recruitment agency may charge and collect a placement fee equivalent to one month salary from workers, exclusive of documentation costs, except where the prevailing system in the destination country does not allow such charges.
It is a project for the hiring of foreign workers in occupations typically requiring a high school diploma or a maximum of two years of job-specific training (level C and D), under which Canadian employers are required to cover all recruitment costs.
No, agencies are prohibited from charging or collecting any recruitment and placement fees from workers under the Pilot Project regardless of the province.
Violation of this issuance is a ground for cancellation of the agency's license under Section 2, Paragraph (c) Rule II, Part VI of the 2002 Rules.
No, the circular allows agencies to charge documentation costs separately; the prohibition specifically concerns placement fees.
Section 2, Paragraph (c) Rule II, Part VI of the 2002 Rules on recruitment licensing, enforced by the POEA Governing Board.
They must refrain from charging or collecting any placement or recruitment fee from workers to be deployed in Canada in accordance with the memorandum.