Number of undocumented OFWs drops dramatically from 2000 to 2010

Citing statistics of the Commission on Filipino Overseas (CFO), a news site reported that the number of undocumented Filipinos dropped dramatically from 1.8 million workers in 2000 to only 704,916 workers in 2010. According to a report of Gulf News on Sunday, the current number of undocumented Filipinos accounts for only eight percent of the total number of Filipinos abroad — 9.452 million Filipinos as of 2010).   The CFO defines irregular OFWs as “those not properly documented or without valid residence or work permits, or who are overstaying in a foreign country.”   “Many undocumented OFWs are also based in France, Singapore, Qatar, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia,” Gulf News said. Permanent residents   Meanwhile, the number of Filipinos with permanent residency in other countries rose to 4.423 million in 2010 from 2.5 million permanent workers in 2000, CFO said.   The current number of Filipinos with permanent residences abroad accounted for 47 percent or nearly half of the Filipinos residing abroad. Gulf News noted that the countries/regions with the highest number of Filipinos are:

• United States: 2.8 million;
• Canada: 581,095 in Canada;
• European countries: 314,710, and
• Asian countries: 700,000.

CFO defines Filipinos with permanent residency as “immigrants, dual citizens or legal permanent residents abroad whose stay does not depend on work contracts.” Need for more detailed info Meanwhile, former labor undersecretary Susan Ople noted that the statistics provided by CFO showed the need for a more detailed information on Filipino migration. “The most recent stock estimates on overseas Filipinos released by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) merely underscore the need for a more efficient way of gathering and sharing data concerning the migration and deployment patterns of Filipino nationals,” she told GMA News Online in an email.   Ople, the current president of the labor advocacy group Blas F. Ople Center, also said “this is not to say that these stock estimates as gathered and released by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas are not important.”   “But as long as we are unable to account with greater accuracy the number of Filipinos who have since returned to the country and those who continue to leave legally or as tourist workers, we cannot be sure that our policies are 100% aligned with realities that Filipino migrants face,” she said. - VVP, GMA News