A group of local recruitment agencies are now eyeing Hungary as the next top destination for overseas Filipino workers (OFW) after the Eastern European country piloted a new program this year to streamline the processing for migrant workers.
In an interview on Thursday, Philippine Association of Service Exporters Inc. (PASEI) President Raquel Espina-Bracero said the Philippines was among the few countries selected for the Enter Hungary project.
“They made a study on countries and they found out the Philippines was able to set the policies in protecting the workers and the employers. That was their driving force [in the selection of the country],” Bracero said.
Under the initiative of the Hungarian government, the processing of OFWs was reduced from 6 to 7 months to just 2 to 3 months.
The pilot project covered an initial 1,000 OFWs for this year.
The deployed workers were hired in electronics and automotive plants.
Bracero said they expect to deploy additional OFWs to Hungary next year after they passed the assessment conducted by the Hungarian government.
Aside from the fast processing, she said other factors, which may be a competitive destination for OFWs is its location in Europe, as well as pay.
Currently the top destinations for OFWs are the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Hong Kong, Oman, Singapore, Bahrain, United Kingdom, and Taiwan.