Philippine envoy targets 90,000 work visas qatar, Philippine, Ambassador, work, visas

Philippine Ambassador to Qatar Crescente Relacion has targeted at least 90,000 work visas by the year-end for Filipinos who want to work in Qatar.

Relacion said the target is good enough to almost touch a total of 120,000 work visas available this year as a result of the bilateral labour agreement between the Philippines and Qatar.

At present, there were already an estimated 45,000 Filipinos gainfully employed in the country after enjoying the benefits of the work visas being processed for them this year.

Relacion said the Philippine Embassy has been closely working with the Philippine Overseas Labour Office in Qatar to speed up the processing of work visas to meet the target by the year-end.

According to an earlier report by the Philippine Department of Labour, a total of 296,787 work visas were approved by the Qatari government from October 2008 to March 2009. Of these, 190,000 have already been used up during this period. There are more than 200,000 Filipinos working in Qatar, the third largest number among expatriates here after Nepalese and Indians.

Though barely a month has passed when he came to Qatar, Relacion has already introduced reforms in the system of work at the Philippine Embassy including the fast processing of work visas and all other documents transacted by Filipino workers.

Talking to The Peninsula yesterday, Relacion said it has been his policy that all activities in his office would be transparent to all Filipino workers.

“We have no hidden agenda here,” he said.

The new ambassador would also introduce new staff at the embassy when he will meet leaders of the different organisations of the Filipino community during the Eid Al Fitr period.

Relacion has called on the representatives of each group to participate in the meeting at the Philippine Embassy where they can discuss issues and their concerns

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