With the rising demand for Filipino workers in Australia, the newly established Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Sydney, Australia and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) felt the need to revised Memorandum Circular No. 4, series of 2006. The said memorandum contains the guidelines on the recruitment and deployment of Filipino workers to Australia.

The changes in the new memorandum were made to ensure the welfare of Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to be deployed and are currently employed in Australia. The amendments done are as follows: 

Accreditation of Australian Principal/Employers:

All Australian principals / employers have to undergo evaluation from the POEA. To be granted an approval and be an accredited Australian Principal/Employers, they need to submit the following documents that have to be duly certified by the POLO in Australia.  Prior to submission to the POLO, the following shall be notarized for verification:

• Special Power of Attorney fro the principal to the Philippine recruitment agency If the principal/employer is a placement agency in Australia, an SPA issued by the principal’s client (s) to the Australia placement agency authorizing the principal/employer to recruit worker for the client shall also be submitted.
• Manpower request (MR) indicating the position and salary of the workers to be hired. In case the principal is an Australian placement agency, the job order (JO) from the direct employer/client indicating the details of manpowered demand addressed to the placement agency shall be submitted.
• Master employment contract
• Valid business license/ commercial registration of the principal/employer.
• Sponsorship nomination approval

Request for Additional Job Orders

For request for additional job orders, the sponsorship nomination approval from the DIAC of Australia for the new job order shall be submitted together with the manpower request notarized in Australia.

Minimum Salary Level

The salary level of OFWs bound for Australia shall not be lower than the Minimum Salary Levels (MSLs) for temporary skilled overseas workers prescribed by the Australia Department of Immigration and Citizenship. Said MSL is reviewed and adjusted regularly to improve the integrity of the temporary skilled migration program of Australia