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Working abroad

22 steps across 11 agencies

Deployment paperwork runs through DMW and OWWA, but the passport and the NBI clearance underneath it take the longest. Start with those.

Clocks that are already running

Passport, apply before it expires by: at least 6 months
OEC validity: 60 days
OWWA membership: 2 years per contract

Each is sourced on the guide it belongs to. This page states no figure of its own.

01First, the documents everything else waits on

These have the longest lead times. Nothing below can start without them.

Philippine passportMost destinations require at least six months of validity left on arrival.NBI clearanceRequired by most employers and by the deployment process itself.Medical examOnly at a DOH-accredited clinic. A result from anywhere else will not be accepted.Apostille your documentsA foreign employer or embassy will not accept a PSA birth certificate, diploma or transcript that has not been authenticated. This is the step most people discover too late.

02Then check who is hiring you

This is the step that decides whether the rest of it is legal.

Verify the recruitment agencyCheck the licence before paying anyone anything. An unlicensed recruiter is the single most expensive mistake here.DMW job orderThe approved order that shows the employer and the post are real.

03Then the deployment paperwork

PDOSPre-Departure Orientation Seminar. A certificate is required before the OEC issues.OWWA membershipYour route into repatriation help, insurance and scholarships later.Overseas Employment CertificateThe exit clearance, and your travel tax and terminal fee exemption at the airport.60 daysTravel tax exemptionWhat the OEC actually saves you at departure.

04Keep your Philippine coverage alive

Leaving the country does not pause any of these.

SSS for OFWsMandatory coverage for sea-based and land-based OFWs.Pag-IBIG for OFWsKeeps you eligible for a housing loan when you come home.PhilHealth as an OFWYour category changes when you go abroad, and coverage follows your dependants at home.OFW insuranceWhat the compulsory insurance actually covers, and who pays for it.

05If you work at sea

Seafarers run a separate documentary track through MARINA, on top of everything above.

Seaman's bookThe Seafarer's Identification and Record Book, and the document a shipping company asks for first.STCW certificatesThe training certificates without which no vessel will sign you on.

06Sending money home

The whole point of the arrangement, and the step nobody plans for before leaving.

Remittance channels comparedWhat the fee and the exchange rate spread actually cost, side by side.Remittance calculatorYou enter the current rates and confirm them. Nothing is baked in.

07What OWWA membership buys you

Beyond repatriation. These are the reasons to keep the membership current.

OWWA scholarshipsFor an OFW's children, which is often the whole reason for going.OWWA loansLivelihood and emergency lending for members and their families.

08Coming home, and going back out

Balik Manggagawa OECThe returning worker's route, which is not the same as a first-time OEC.

09If something goes wrong out there

Worth reading before you leave, not after.

Help for distressed OFWsRepatriation, legal assistance and the 1348 hotline that DMW and OWWA share.

What this page is

A route through guides this site already publishes, in the order the situation actually demands. It carries no sourcing band because it asserts nothing: every figure lives on the guide it links to, with its own source and its own verification date.

Related situations

I lost my jobThere is money you are owed by your employer, money you can claim from SSS or GSIS, and help you can apply for. They are three different queues.Someone in the family diedThe death certificate comes first, because every claim and every transfer asks for it. Then the benefits, then the estate.