EIGHT offices of a visa consultancy firm across the country, including a branch in Zamboanga City, were simultaneously ordered closed by the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) on Friday, August 1, 2025, for illegal recruitment activities.
Ordered closed by virtue of order No. 27, series of 2025 penned by DMW Secretary Hanz Leo Cacdac is the Visa to America Manila, Incorporated which maintains a main office in Pasig City and branches in different parts of the country.
“He (Secretary Cacdac) ordered the closure of all offices and branches of Visa to America Manila, Inc., whose main office is in Ortigas, Pasig City. Now all its branches are being closed at the same time,” said Geraldine Mendez, chief of DMW’s Migrant Workers Protection Bureau.
Aside from Zamboanga City, the other branches of the Visa to America Manila, Incorporated are located in the cities of Cebu, Lucena, Iloilo, Davao, Quezon and Santiago in Isabela province.
Mendez said the agency promotes various job opportunities in the United States, primarily for positions in teaching and in the hospitality industry, with advertised annual salaries ranging from $40,000 to $100,000, depending on the qualifications of the applicants.
The agency offers two visa options: the J1 and H1B visas, targeting teachers and professionals. Applicants are asked to pay a partial fee of $5,400 for the J1 visa or $8,500 for the H1B visa.
H-1B and J-1 visa categories are legitimate temporary work and exchange visas in the U.S.
As part of their services, Visa to America Manila Inc. assists applicants with Curriculum Vitae preparation, ensuring that it meets U.S. standards, and offers mock interviews to help applicants better prepare for the job application process.
Mendez said the agency has registered in 2022 but started actual operations in 2023. The agency is offering jobs abroad without license from the DMW.
She said the agency recruit but is not providing the applicants the schedule of deployment in America.
So far the DMW has already received 60 complaints against the firm in the entire country. Four of the complainants are from Zamboanga City.
DMW-Zamboanga Peninsula Director Gay Iris Tangcalagan said the agency has started operations in Zamboanga City in January 2025.
Tangcalagan said they have conducted multiple surveillance here in Zamboanga City because they received complaints from four professional teachers who already paid P400,000 to P600,000 as placement fees.
“Within 48 hours after they applied, they were made to sign contracts and asked for down payment, but after that are no more follow up information,” she added.
The mode of payment of placement fees by applicants is through bank transfer to the main office of the agency.
Tangcalagan said the agency operates by offering visa consultancy, but, however, they are actually engaging in illegal recruitment. (SunStar Zamboanga)