Immigrant Visa Unaffected by Deployment Cap for Healthcare Workers Abroad

(Estimated reading time: 2 minutes)

The Philippines is one of the world’s most significant sources of nurses. Almost 10 million Filipinos working and living overseas have annual remittances exceeding $30 billion. It is primarily the country’s consumption-driven economy. Hence, the importance of the thousand immigrant visas.

Last November 2020, President Rodrigo Duterte lifted a deployment ban on healthcare workers. Still, he limited the number of medical workers allowed to leave. This is to ensure there would be enough at home as the Philippines battles COVID-19 outbreaks within the country.

Countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and New Zealand, requested an increase in the deployment of healthcare workers.

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration ordered a new temporary suspension to the overseas deployment of newly hired medical professionals after reaching the 5,000-annual cap last June 1, 2021.

During the press conference by the IATF and the Malacañang spokesman Harry Roque, there will be an increase to the annual deployment ceiling of the new hire healthcare workers (HCWs) for Mission Critical Skills (MSC) to 6,500.

However, there is also an exemption:

1. First, the EB3 immigrant visa issued by the United States. Meaning it will not affect your application bound to the USA.

2. Canada does not issue working visas directly to the employee. However, you are exempted from the deployment ban if you have an immigrant visa or a student visa.

3.Due to COVID-19, the Australian Borders are still closed. Therefore, the application under Australia will not be affected.

4. Applicants who have an OEC does not need to comply. However, you can still go through it if you’re going to UK and Ireland.

5. The deployment ban does not also affect the HCWs who are living outside the Philippines. They can still go to the UK or Ireland.

What are you waiting for? Start preparing your documents now. Let IPASS help you process your application hassle-free and conveniently.

Disclaimer: IPASS Processing is a processing agency that assists with international exam applications for the USA, Australia, and the Middle East. We are also a service provider for the NCLEX online review. IPASS Processing is NOT a recruitment agency. We do not hire nor deploy medical professionals abroad.