NBI opens special lanes for OFWs

MANILA, Philippines—The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has set-up a special lane for overseas Filipino workers following the clamor of overseas recruitment industry that Filipino workers are losing opportunity due to slow facilitation of clearance.

Alfredo Palmiery, President of the Filipino Association Manpower Exporters, Inc. (FAME), in a statement said NBI Director Magtanggol Gatdula already agreed with their proposal of creating a special lane that would attend to the applicants coming from FAME.

FAME is the umbrella organization with 700 members for several country associations deploying OFWs to various countries.

The secretariat of FAME will endorse applicants to the NBI office to the special lane provided which will issue NBI clearance within three days required by the embassies together with the visa application for a work permit.

For starters, Palmiery said the NBI already processed the clearances of 29 workers bound for Guam.

“With the implementation of the special lane by this week, we expect smoother processing of the travel documents of workers that recruitment agencies have selected for their accredited jobs orders,” Palmiery said.