Picture for illustrative purposes only. ARCHIVE

The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) stated on Thursday that overseas Filipino workers could start accessing their OECs and other documents through a portal beginning October 27. "The OECs of the workers will now be downloaded on their mobile device. We were set to launch on October 15. But we decided to move it back to October 27," DMW Secretary Susan Ople remarked during the DMW presentation at the Joint Maritime Committees of European Business Chambers. Ople noted that the effort, which is a collaboration with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), was postponed to evaluate the digital portal further. "We pushed it back a bit just to ensure that once we roll it out, the glitches will really just be the bare minimum," she explained. According to Ople, digitalization will shorten and simplify the processing of OFW documents. "The experience of a ship owner for example, in Germany will be the same as a ship owner in Japan, and a worker in Hong Kong will experience, will have the same experience as a nurse in the US," she said. "So with this app, the worker can store the passport image and then there will be the OEC in a QR format. So that the Bureau of Immigration only can look at that," Ople continued. OFWs can also save additional personnel files in the application, according to Ople. The app will also include a help desk that will respond to inquiries. "That's just a prototype of the OFW mobile app. It's still evolving. We have daily meetings now in preparation for the launch," Ople assured. The DMW has yet to announce the name and further details of the app. BKM/ Expat Media
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