Overseas Filipino
An Overseas Filipino is a person of
Philippine origin who lives and works outside the
Philippines. The poor performance of the Philippine economy over recent decades, combined with a widespread knowledge of
English, a legacy of the Philippines' position as a former
United States colony, have made Filipinos one of the most internationally mobile nationalities. Often overseas wokers will support extended families back in the Philippines. As a result, many countries around the world have a substantial Filipino community
Encyclopedia
An
Overseas Filipino is a person of
Philippine origin who lives and works outside the
Philippines. The poor performance of the Philippine economy over recent decades, combined with a widespread knowledge of
English, a legacy of the Philippines' position as a former
United States colony, have made Filipinos one of the most internationally mobile nationalities. Often overseas wokers will support extended families back in the Philippines. As a result, many countries around the world have a substantial Filipino community
Population in Diaspora
There are more than 10 million overseas Filipinos worldwide, about 11% of the total population of the
Philippines. However, the number may be higher due to a large rate of illegal Filipino migrants who overstay or carry a lapsed visa. The Overseas Filipino population can be projected to be at 15 million.
Each year, the Philippines sends out more than a million of its nationals to work abroad. They are typically employed as doctors, accountants, housekeepers, nurses, engineers and domestic helpers.
The Filipino diaspora is the third largest in terms of population. The Overseas Chinese is the largest, with about 35 million followed by the
Overseas Indian at 22 million.
Overseas Filipino Workers
An Overseas Filipino Worker is a term for a
Filipino who is employed in work outside the Philippines. Some eight million Filipinos, out of a population of 80 million, have left the country to seek work abroad, attracted by jobs with salaries that far exceed those of jobs available in the Philippines. These jobs often include nursing, technology, fishing and teaching. Money sent by OFWs back to the Philippines is a major factor in the country's economy, amounting to more than US$10 billion in 2005. This makes the country the fourth largest recipient behind
India,
China and
Mexico. The amount represents 13.5% of the country's
GDP, the largest in proportion to the domestic economy among the four countries.
However, the exodus of workers from the country includes an increasing number of skilled workers taking on unskilled work overseas, resulting in serious brain drain, particularly in the health and education sectors. Also, the exodus can result in underemployment, especially in cases where doctors undergo retraining to become nurses.
Filipinos on Holiday
While many Filipinos prefer overseas employment, others also travel outside the Philippines for business and pleasure. These travellers are mostly business owners and entrepreneurs, famous actors, politicians, as well as people who are in the high and middle classes of society.
Filipinos on holiday also go abroad for the intent of visiting their loved-ones who are engaged in overseas employment. Seafering on oceangoing vessels is popular as well.
Issues
Many overseas Filipinos face many obstacles when they arrive in their country of destination. Usually, they are deprived of a wide range of employment rights since domestic work does not fall within the scope of protection laws.
Some of them are withheld their pay, while others have their documents confiscated or hidden by their employers. Furthermore, many of these domestic workers are abused, assaulted, or sexually harassed by their employers.
However, low-skilled workers are not deprived by their government. Philippine embassies and consulates have established a strong and stern connection with its nationals in their respective host countries. Many OFW's are urged to report any misconduct or abuse by employers to the said Philippine agencies rather than the local authorities. This is a much better and preferred way by many since the contengencies offered through this are more promising and protective. It is also to avoid any types of prejudice and racial discrimination.
Ironically, some Filipinos of professional work and/or field are also facing this type of issue.
List of Countries with large Filipino populations
- United States. Despite race relations problems of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the American Northwest, most Filipino-Americans today find it easy to integrate with American society. The population is estimated to be over 4 million. However, this number is speculated to be at nearly 6 million, according to many Filipino-American organizations, with 1 million who are undocumented. They are also the second largest Asian-American subgroup only after the Chinese. Filipinos are also the second largest immigrant group up to this day. They remain active in many issues, including the controversial immigration policies. In 2006, the United States Congress hailed the 100th year of Filipino migration to the nation. An average of 85,000 Filipinos migrate to the US annually as legal permanent residents, while an estimated of 400,000 visit for business and pleasure.
- Canada. Only a small population of Filipinos resided in Canada until the late 20th century. There are currently between 300,000 to 350,000 Filipino Canadians and immigrants in Canada. They are also the third largest Asian Canadian subgroup in the nation.
- Italy. There are more than 500,000 "listed" Filipinos in Italy. Ironically, Italy gained more momentum in regard to receiving Filipino immigrants than Canada despite the longer and more historical migration of Filipinos to the North American nation. However, their population may be closing in to 1 million due to the influx of undocumented Filipinos.
- Spain. With around 55,000 citizens, the Filipinos form the 2nd largest Asian community in Spain behind the Chinese. Although many Filipinos did immigrate or ran away to Spain after the United States took over the islands in 1898, most of the Filipinos moved to the old metropoli during the 1960s and 1970s seeking jobs, which in many cases were related to housekeeping or industrial activities. There's also a significant group of Spaniards of Filipino origins including some famous people like Isabel Preysler, mother of famous singer Enrique Iglesias
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- Ireland. Ireland is seeing a growth in the Filipino community, with an estimate of 3,000. They are also the second largest Asian subgroup in the country.
- Hong Kong. There are 140,000 Filipinos in Hong Kong, of whom most are domestic helpers . Filipino maids are known by the locals as amahs, or more often feiyungs . A Hong Kong work visa requires some amount of higher education; and in some cases Filipino women with college degrees and perfect command of English are willing to work as maids and nannies for a salary higher than they could make at home.
- Singapore. As many as 132,000 Overseas Filipinos work and reside in the nation-state of Singapore. Moreover, about 200,000 Filipinos visit the country annually, making them one of the biggest foreign tourists of Singapore.
- Taiwan. According to 2006 data of the government of the Republic of China , there are 96,000 of "alien workers" from the Philippines. Of the 96,000 Filipinos in Taiwan, 58,704 are in manufacturing industries, and 34,602 are in social or personal services . According to 2004 data by the Philippine Government, there are 2,037 stay permanently, 154,135 stay for work contracts, and 4,500 stay irregularly, which make a sum of 160,672.
- Japan Some 500,000 Filipinos and Filipino-Japanese are listed to be living within Japan's geographic confines. However, this number is speculated to be larger, surpassing the one million mark, in relation to many unlisted and illegal Filipino nationals in the Land of the Rising Sun.
- South Korea In South Korea some 98,000 Overseas Filipinos work in different types of employment, particularly as housekeepers, educators, nurses, and caregivers. Historically, Filipinos were able to enter South Korea freely due to the visa-waiver agreement that previously existed between the Philippines and South Korea. Aside from this number, there is an estimated 50,000 Filipinos who are unlisted due to their immigration status.
- Lebanon As many as 40,000 OFWs are working in the nation of Lebanon. Due to the recent turmoil between Lebanon and Israel, however, many have been repatriated back to the Philippines, while others have been relocated to Cyprus, a part of the Philippine evacuation plan.
- Australia In 2000 Australia recorded about 127,000 Filipinos and/or Filipino-Australians. Filipinos In Australia all have permanent residency or Australian citizenships, due to the fact that Australian government does not issue work visas to Filipinos. Despite this fact, there is still a very small number of Filipinos who live in Australia illegally with most of them having overstayed their visitor visas. The main criteria to enable a Filipino to migrate to Australia are skills and education, thus most of the Filipino migrants in Australia are professionals and skilled people. Most Filipino-Australians hold very good positions as health professionals, educators, engineers, computer programmers, trades people and even as public servants. There are a small number of Filipino migrants who are employed in the blue collar industries, such as factory workers, hospitality workers and construction labourers.
- United Kingdom Nurses and caregivers have begun flocking into the United Kingdom these past years. The island-nation has welcomed about 20,000 nurses and other Filipinos of various employment and lifestyle during the past 5 years. The United Kingdom may be home to some 100,000 Filipino nationals.
Greece lies at the juncture of Europe [i], Asia [i], and Africa [i]. ...
The Filipino population in Greece has now reached 90,000, 85% of whom are women. This is according to estimates of Kasapi-Hellas, an organization of the Filipino migrant community there. Some 60%-70% of this population is undocumented. This number is set to increase with the implementation of a new law which limits to five years the maximum length of stay of migrant workers in Greece.
...
As Sabah is very close to the Philippines, there are many Filipino residents, as well as illegal immigrants there. Filipinos make up about 30% of the entire population of
Sabah and they enumerate up to 900,000. Historically, Sabah is part of the
Philippines. Until now, the Philippines has a dormant claim on the territory. Native Sabahans themselves are closely related to southern Filipinos. Many of the Filipino residents come to work in construction industries, fisheries, and other labor intensive sectors in hopes of a better living. Most live in stilt slums scattered behind cities or on offshore islands. The Philippine government also has promised to establish a consulate provide any necessary help to its nationals.
- New Zealand There are about 30,000 Filipino residents including Filipino-New Zealanders, as well as illegal immigrants who mostly overstay their visitor visas. New Zealand is mostly looking for farmers and information/comunication technology workers. There is a small amount of Filipino maids and caregivers present in the country. The New Zealand government is very tight on the type of people coming in and out of the country. New Zealand has accomodated Filipino telecommunications as well as media. As in the other countries above, most either have TFC operated by ABS-CBN and GMA Pinoy TV.
See also
References
General statistics from Philippine government
, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration , 2004, on overseas Filipinos :
- 3,187,586 stay permanently, 3,599,257 stay for work contracts, and 1,296,972 stay irregularly , which make a sum of 8,083,815.
, Philippine National Statistics Office, on OFWs:
- 1.06 million Overseas Filipinos Workers
- 33.4% are unskilled workers, 15.4% are Trades and related workers, 15.1% are plant and machine operators and assemblers.
- 49.3% are males, 50.7% are females.
- Remittances are 64.7 billion Philippine pesos
, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, 2005, on OFWs:
- 733,970 are landbased, 247,707 are seabased, which make a sum of 981,677. There is a 5.15% growth since 2004's 933,588.
- Remittances are 9,727,138,000 USD. There is a 26.6% growth since 2004.
From other governments
, 2006 February, CLA,
Taiwan.
