THE Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) reminds private recruitment agencies (PRAs) to refrain from deploying overseas Filipino workers (OFW) to Middle East countries as the war in the region rages.
In its Advisory 10, Series of 2026, the DMW said OFW deployment is currently suspended in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), despite having no alert level raised.
"The ongoing regional tensions and airspace restrictions currently suspend deployments to these areas until further notice," said the DMW.
Similarly, OFW deployment is banned in Gaza, Syria, and Yemen, which are all under Crisis Alert Level (CAL) 4.
Iraq and Lebanon, which are under CAL 3, also have a total deployment ban in effect.
The DMW said countries under CAL 2, namely Iran, Kurdistan Region, Israel, and West Bank, only allow returning OFWs with existing employment contracts while newly hired OFWs are temporarily suspended from being deployed.
In Jordan, which is under CAL 1, the DMW said processing and deployment of both newly hired and returning or re-hired OFWs are permitted.
"All PRAs are strongly advised to temporarily refrain from processing workers for deployment to these countries until further notice, in order to prevent inconvenience and ensure worker safety," said the DMW.
The war between the US and Israel and Iran began Feb. 28 and has since spread across different Middle East nations.
Since the start of the war, an estimated 40,000 OFWs have been stranded in the country and have yet to be deployed.
In a statement, recruitment analyst Emmanuel Geslani said there are now some 40,000 OFWs bound for different Middle East nations who were unable to depart due to the crisis.
"Some 40,000 Filipinos are now cooling their heels in accommodation centers of deploying agencies or have been sent back to their provinces," said Geslani.
"There are also quite a number of re-hires or vacationing workers are unable to fulfill their contracts due to the scarcity of flights to the Middle East," he added.
Geslani said majority of the 40,000 OFWs are household service workers (HSW) scheduled to leave for their Middle East employers.
"Deployment of professionals, skilled workers, and unskilled positions have completely been stopped by the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW)," said Geslani. (Anton Banal/SunStar Philippines)