A GROUP of immigration consulting agencies in the Philippines has joined forces to form the International Education Consultants Alliance of the Philippines (IECAP) to help the government crack down on unscrupulous agencies that exploit Filipinos wanting to study and work abroad.
IECAP was formed in 2023. It currently has 27 member-agencies nationwide.
Bertch Ian Ranis, IECAP vice president for internal affairs, said with IECAP’s formation, they’ll be able to police and industry and get rid of the “fly-by-night” operators.
“There are about 400 immigration agencies now appearing like mushrooms as the TikTok world is promoting freelancing. They are promoting students to apply. You just vlog then you can already recruit people to apply. Vloggers have become micro-agencies. This is what is happening now, even if they don’t have business permits and licenses,” said Ranis, adding that some vloggers act like brokers between schools and students and not really direct partners with them.
“IECAP hopes to regulate the immigration agencies in the Philippines. If there would be complaints by clients, IECAP will help mediate,” he said.
Recently, the group has started working with the Department of Migrant Workers to discuss how it can protect Filipino students from scammers and illegal agencies.
“Hopefully, the government will not have to create a special department for it, because we are self-regulating ourselves protecting the Filipino students, who have plans to study abroad,” he said.
Ranis is one of the founding members of IECAP representing Fil-Global Immigration Services Corp. (Fil-Global). Founded in 2014 in London, United Kingdom, Fil-Global has about seven offices across the country. It has sent more than 1,000 Filipinos overseas via the student pathway.
He said Filipino students wanting to study abroad have been growing every year by 20 percent. Last year alone, 80,000 Filipinos went abroad on student visas. Of the total, some 20,000 Filipinos went to Australia; 25,000 went to Canada and the rest went to other countries.
Ranis said it is still the promising opportunities abroad that lure Filipinos to consider studying and eventually working abroad.
Filipino nurses in demand in US
Specifically, Ranis said there is a significant surge in the demand for Filipino nurses working in the United States in the next eight to 10 years, as the aging population and the baby boomer generation entering retirement are seen to fuel the demand for nursing professionals.
“We are witnessing a renewed and strong demand for Filipino nurses in the United States,” said Ranis.
A study by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) showed that the Registered Nursing (RN) workforce is expected to expand by six percent over the next decade. The RN workforce is anticipated to grow from 3.1 million in 2022 to 3.3 million in 2032. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics likewise projects 193,100 openings for RNs each year through 2032 when nurse retirements and workforce exits are factored into the number of nurses needed in the US.
The AACN is said to be working with schools, policymakers and nursing organizations to form collaborations to address the shortage of nursing professionals. Banking on this demand, Ranis said that Fil-Global is intensifying its efforts to assist more Filipinos to study, work and live in the US as nurses.
Fil-Global announced the rollout of its pioneering Bachelor of Science in Nursing program, the first agency to introduce a one-year BS-Nursing program in the US, in collaboration with Oklahoma City University, with a 50 percent scholarship and guaranteed employment.
The program offers free hospital placement for RNs who have passed the NCLEX Exam under the EB3 Green Card program. This initiative is designed to streamline the process for Filipino healthcare professionals seeking to build their careers in the US.
Besides Oklahoma City University, Ranis also sealed an exclusive partnership with the University of California, providing a six-month postgraduate program for Filipinos, complemented by a one-year paid work placement in New York. This partnership aims to enhance career prospects and provide valuable international work experience.
The company is also offering a fully funded Stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) Program in collaboration with MPOWER Financing. This provides fully funded programs with US$100,000 loans to cover board, lodging and tuition fees for Master’s Degrees under Stem disciplines.
USA Expo in Cebu
To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Fil-Global in Cebu is hosting a USA Expo on July 20, 2024, at the Lex Hotel, Cebu City. The event will offer free career expos, immigration consultations, and visa application processing for those seeking education and career opportunities in the US and other countries.
Fil-Global is the first and only ISO certified 9001:2015 education consultancy in the Philippines, offering a wide range of immigration, internship and university placement services across the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Spain and more. (KOC)