The job offer sounds like the one you have been waiting for. An overseas job, a salary that would change what your family can do this year, and a person on the other end of the chat who is warm, quick to reply, and slightly in a hurry. Then comes the part that makes your stomach turn over: a reservation fee to hold the slot. A processing fee before the papers move. Can you send your passport by courier today? And you hesitate, because you do not want to insult someone who might be completely genuine.
The checking is free, the government publishes it, and you can do most of it on your phone in a few minutes. There are three checks worth running before any money moves. Is this a licensed recruitment agency at all? Does the job order they are offering you actually exist on the record? And who is the principal — the employer or placement agency abroad — behind that job?
We will walk through all three, with the exact pages to open — and be straight with you about the second half of the title: these checks tell you a great deal, and there are things they cannot tell you. That is not a reason to skip them. It is a reason to run them and keep your eyes open afterwards.
Start here: the three free checks, in order
- The licence — is this agency licensed by the Department of Migrant Workers to recruit Filipino workers for overseas jobs at all?
- The job order — does the specific job they are offering, for that specific country, exist on the DMW's approved records?
- The principal — who is named on that job order as the principal, and does the name match what you were told?
All three are free. None needs an account or anyone's help. Two of them are directories published on the Department of Migrant Workers' own website, and the third is a name you read off the second one.
A clean check tells you an agency is authorised and that an overseas job was approved. It does not tell you the job is still open, or that the employer will be a good one.
Check 1: Is the agency licensed?
To check whether a recruitment agency is licensed, open the Department of Migrant Workers' public directory at https://dmw.gov.ph/inquiry/licensed-recruitment-agencies and search for the agency by name. The DMW describes it on the page itself as a "Directory of DMW-licensed overseas recruitment agencies authorized to deploy Filipino workers abroad." It is free, it needs no login, and it is the same record whether you are in Manila or already overseas.
The search box on that page, in the DMW's own words, looks up agencies "by name, address, contact person, license number, or services." Agencies are registered under long formal names, and a great many of them carry words like manpower, placement or international somewhere in the middle — so the short name your recruiter used may not be the name on the record. Try the short version, the full version, and any older name you have seen on a letterhead; many entries also carry a former name in brackets. If you only have an office address, that works as a starting point too. The directory held 3,793 agencies as of 20 August 2026, and you can download the whole list as a CSV file if you would rather read it offline.
Finding the agency in the directory is not the good news you might think it is. The column that decides your answer is the one headed License / Status. Among the statuses we saw published there on 20 August 2026: Valid License, Valid License - Provisional, Expired, Cancelled, Delisted, Denied Renewal, Ceased Operations, Inactive, and Forever Banned.
The DMW publishes the labels rather than a glossary explaining each one, so we are not going to invent definitions for them. The instruction is the same for all of them: anything other than a valid licence means stop, and ask the DMW before you pay anyone anything.
A practical limit worth knowing. Although the search box offers licence number as a search key, the licence-number field showed "N/A" on every row we read on 20 August 2026. So search by name and read the status, and be careful with anyone who tells you their number is the proof — the status column is what you can actually confirm. While you are in the record, note the registered address: it should match the office you are being asked to walk into.
If the status reads Valid License - Provisional, that is not a red flag by itself. Under the 2023 DMW Rules governing land-based overseas Filipino workers, a provisional licence runs for a non-extendible period of three years from the date it is issued, and a regular licence is valid for six years counted from the issuance of the provisional one. A status can also change between one check and the next, so ask the DMW if anything in the record does not match what you were told.
Check 2: Does the job order actually exist?
To confirm the job itself is real, look for an approved job order matching your position and country in the Department of Migrant Workers' second free directory, Approved Job Orders, at https://dmw.gov.ph/inquiry/approved-job-orders. The licence tells you the agency is allowed to recruit; the job order tells you that this specific job, in this specific country, with this specific employer, is on the department's records as approved. An agency can hold a valid licence and still be talking to you about a job that is not on it. The DMW's approved job orders directory held 135,051 job orders as of 20 August 2026.
Each entry shows the jobsite — the country where the work is — along with the position, the agency, the principal, the accreditation type, the number of workers needed, and the approval date. Match those against what you have been told. If you were promised a hotel job in Japan and the record for that agency shows something different, that gap is not a technicality; it is the conversation to have before anything else happens. The accreditation column shows values including Regular Accreditation and In-House. The department publishes no glossary for those either, so treat them as fields to compare.
The most important thing on this page comes from the DMW, not from us. The department explains that the list is drawn from licensed recruitment agencies' active job orders for the past two years, and that job orders "are considered active unless canceled by the employer or recruitment agency." Then it says this: "However, we cannot guarantee that the job vacancies are still open because the recruitment agencies may at present have already accepted qualified applicants for the listed positions." And, in capitals on the page itself: "VERIFY WITH THE AGENCY IF THE JOB ORDER IS STILL ACTIVE OR NOT."
A job order in the list is real evidence that the position was approved and the paperwork behind your offer exists. It is not proof the vacancy is still open today, and it is certainly not a contract — and it is the department keeping the record that says so, not us.
The page carries an "as of" stamp and states that the licence-status data behind it refreshes roughly every two hours. Check it on the day you need it, not from a screenshot somebody sent you last month.
Check 3: Who is the principal behind the job?
Read the principal's name off the job order record — it sits beside the agency's name, which is why the second check hands you the third one for free. Under the 2023 DMW Rules a principal is either an employer or a foreign placement agency: an employer is the party that directly signs your employment contract, employs you and pays your salary, while a foreign placement agency is licensed in its own country to place workers with its clients. So the principal is not always the company you will work for. If the record names a placement agency, that is a question rather than an answer — ask who the employer behind it is, because that is the name that should appear on the contract you sign. Ask as well whether the principal is accredited to the agency for the job you are being offered, and see whether the answer matches the record.
Your questions about accommodation, hours and overtime ultimately point at that employer. An agency that will not tell you who the principal is has left the most basic question about your own job unanswered.
This is also why the licence matters far more than a status column suggests. Under the Omnibus Rules, the liability of the principal and the recruitment agency on claims is joint and several — you can pursue either of them for the whole of it. That liability must be written into the overseas employment contract as a condition of its approval, the agency's performance bond answers for money claims awarded to the migrant worker, and where the agency is a company, its officers and directors are jointly and severally liable alongside it. In plain terms: a licensed agency is one you can still reach here in the Philippines when the employer is on the other side of the world and not answering.
What a valid licence does not prove
A valid licence means the agency is authorised to recruit. It does not mean the agency is good, that the employer will be good, or that the job will turn out to be the one that was described to you over the phone.
The law is unusually clear about this. The acts that count as illegal recruitment apply, in the statute's own words, "whether committed by any person, whether a non-licensee, non-holder, licensee or holder of authority." Even a legitimate, fully licensed agency is bound by those limits. Under the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act as amended and its Omnibus Rules, the listed acts include charging or accepting, directly or indirectly, any amount greater than that specified in the schedule of allowable fees; furnishing or publishing false information or documents in relation to recruitment or employment; substituting or altering an approved employment contract to the worker's prejudice; withholding or denying travel documents from applicant workers before departure for monetary or financial considerations; failing to actually deploy a contracted worker without valid reason; and failing to reimburse the expenses a worker incurred on documentation and processing when the deployment does not happen through no fault of theirs.
So the licence is a floor, not a ceiling. It is what has to be true before anything else is worth discussing.
There is a third limit, and it is the one most easily missed: all three checks can come back clean and still not tell you whether the person messaging you is actually from that agency. A real name, a real job order and a real principal can all be quoted by somebody who has nothing to do with any of them. The 2023 DMW Rules give you two things to hold on to. A licensed agency may recruit away from its registered address only by securing a Special Recruitment Authority first, and only at the venue named in it, so a meeting arranged somewhere else is a question, and the registered address is the one to hold them to. And a genuine placement fee comes with a BIR-registered receipt stating the date, the purpose and the exact amount paid — a payment nobody will receipt that way is not a placement fee the rules recognise.
Something we keep noticing, across years of watching Filipinos leave and come back: the people who build a career abroad rather than collecting a story about one are almost always the people who were willing to be the careful one in the room. Not the suspicious one. The careful one — who says let me check that before I pay, reads the record before the deposit and the contract before the signature, and asks the awkward question early, even when the room goes a little quiet. That is a habit, not a personality, and this page is where many people first practise it. It is the same habit that carries somebody from a first contract to a second and a third, because the worker who keeps their own copies and asks properly is the one who can prove what they did and negotiate the next post. Verification is not a gate you pass once and forget. It is the first professional skill of a career abroad.
POEA or DMW? The name changed, your check didn't
To verify an agency "with POEA", use the DMW directory — the licensing and regulation of overseas recruitment now sits with the Department of Migrant Workers, whose own official issuances page carries POEA's issuances under a heading for subsumed agencies. If your instinct was still to search for POEA, you are not behind the times: you are using the vocabulary most Filipinos use, and so, in places, is the government.
You can see the overlap on the department's own live pages. Its approved job orders notice still refers to workers whose documents were "already submitted to POEA for processing," and its FAQ section still explains what a POEA OFW Record is. So search using whichever name you know. What matters is where you land.
Make sure you are on the real government website
A Philippine government website sits on a .gov.ph address, and the Department of Migrant Workers' address is dmw.gov.ph. Read a web address from the right-hand end of the domain backwards, not from whatever reassuring words appear in the middle of it. The end of the domain is what is actually registered; the middle can say anything at all.
A genuine Philippine government page also carries the state's own furniture: a Republic of the Philippines banner linking to www.gov.ph, links to the Official Gazette, to the department's Transparency Seal and to the Freedom of Information portal at foi.gov.ph, and a notice that the content is in the public domain.
Then the habit that beats every imitation: type dmw.gov.ph into the address bar yourself, or reach it through a search you ran, rather than through a link somebody sent you. A link in a message goes wherever the sender decided it goes, and the friendliest message you have received can carry one. Bookmark the two directory pages, and use the bookmark from then on.
The money: what an agency may charge, and when
A placement fee of up to one month's basic salary may be charged to a land-based worker, and only after the contract is signed. Those are the words of the 2023 DMW Rules governing land-based overseas Filipino workers: "A placement fee may be charged against the Overseas Filipino Worker equivalent to one (1) month basic salary specified in the DMW-approved contract," and "The worker shall pay the placement fee to the licensed recruitment agency only after signing the DMW-approved contract. The agency must issue a BIR-registered receipt stating the date and purpose of payment, and the exact amount paid." Which rule reaches you depends on where you are going.
The exceptions matter at least as much as the rule. The same rule states that the fee may not be charged to domestic workers, and may not be charged to workers being deployed to countries where the prevailing system — whether by law, policy or practice — does not allow, directly or indirectly, the charging and collection of a recruitment or placement fee. Which countries those are is destination-specific and it changes, so we are not going to list any here — and neither should anyone who does not know where you are going. Ask the DMW which rule applies to your destination and your job category. That question is worth your minute, because for a great many Filipino workers the correct answer is that no placement fee should be reaching them at all.
It helps to know your route before the money conversation starts. Our guides to working in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong walk through how each of those routes works, and the country guide maps where else Filipinos are going.
The timing in that rule matters most once you know what a worker legitimately pays for at all. The same rules divide the costs three ways.
- Yours — the documentation the rules list: passport, NBI, police or barangay clearance, PSA birth certificate, authenticated academic records and professional credentials, a TESDA or equivalent certificate of competency, and the DOH-prescribed medical examination, plus PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG and SSS membership. The worker, in the department's words, "shall only pay" these. Some of them honestly come before any contract exists.
- The employer's — the visa and its stamping fee, the work and residence permits, round-trip airfare, transport from the airport to the jobsite, the DMW processing fee and the OWWA membership fee. The compulsory insurance premium is the agency's, not yours.
- Nobody's — "No other fees in whatever amount, form, manner or purpose shall be charged against the Overseas Filipino Worker, except those specified in this Rule."
That medical examination carries its own protection: a DOH-accredited clinic of your own choice, and only once there is reasonable certainty you will be hired under an approved job order.
So the reservation fee, the processing fee, the payment to hold your slot are on none of those lists. The point is not that you pay nothing — it is that you can now say which costs are honestly yours and refuse the rest with a reason. You are not being difficult. You are reading the same rule the agency is bound by.
The Omnibus Rules also list things that may not be done to a worker at all. An OFW may not be granted a loan for legal and allowable placement fees at interest exceeding eight per cent per annum, nor be made to issue postdated cheques for it. Nobody may impose a compulsory and exclusive arrangement requiring a worker to borrow only from a designated lender, or to undergo training or seminars only from a specifically designated provider — with the rules' own carve-out for recommendatory training mandated by principals where they pay for it. And a suspended agency may not carry on any recruitment activity, including processing applications already with it.
If something does not add up
Recruiting without a licence is a crime. Under the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act, illegal recruitment means any act of canvassing, enlisting, contracting, transporting, utilizing, hiring or procuring workers — including referring, contract services, promising or advertising for employment abroad, whether for profit or not — when it is undertaken by a non-licensee or non-holder of authority. The Act adds that any such non-licensee who, in any manner, offers or promises for a fee employment abroad to two or more persons is deemed to be engaged in it. It carries imprisonment and fines.
If something does not add up, bring it to the department rather than to a group chat. The DMW publishes an emergency hotline, 1348, and the email address info@dmw.gov.ph. Its head office is the Blas F. Ople Building on Ortigas Avenue corner EDSA in Mandaluyong City. If you are already overseas, its contact page carries a directory of Migrant Workers Offices. Bring what you have: the agency name, the address, the screenshots, and the receipt for anything you have already paid.
If you are a direct hire, or going back to the same employer
If no Philippine agency is involved because a foreign employer is hiring you directly, the checks in this article do not apply to you. There is no agency licence and no agency job order to look up, because there is no agency. That route has its own requirements, and the DMW keeps a dedicated set of frequently asked questions on direct hiring at https://dmw.gov.ph/faqs — start there.
If you are an OFW returning to the same employer, the department describes Balik-Manggagawa, its POPS-BaM system, as an online system for returning OFWs to secure their OEC and verify employment before going back abroad. Once the agency questions are settled, the documents that come next are your overseas employment contract and your Overseas Employment Certificate — and reading the contract properly is its own piece of work, which we will cover separately.
Before you pay anyone: your checklist
- Search the agency name in the DMW's licensed agencies directory, and read the status column rather than stopping at the name.
- Compare the registered address in the record against the office you are asked to visit, and treat a meeting arranged anywhere else as a question, not a convenience.
- Search the approved job orders directory for your country and position, and note the principal's name.
- Ask the agency to confirm the job order is still active — the DMW's own page tells you to.
- Ask the DMW which fee rule applies to your destination and job category before any money moves.
- Pay the placement fee only after the DMW-approved contract is signed, and only against a BIR-registered receipt naming the date, the purpose and the amount — and keep every receipt.
- Reach the DMW by typing
dmw.gov.phyourself, never through a link somebody sent you. - Keep your own copy of everything you sign, send, or hand over.
The Questions Filipinos Ask Us Most
How do I know if a recruitment agency is legal in the Philippines?
Search the agency's name in the Department of Migrant Workers' directory of licensed recruitment agencies at https://dmw.gov.ph/inquiry/licensed-recruitment-agencies, then read the License / Status column. Being listed is not the answer on its own — a name can appear there with a licence that is expired, cancelled or delisted. A valid licence is what you are looking for, and anything else means stop and ask the DMW first.
How can I check an agency if all I have is an office address? You can still start. The DMW's search box on the same page looks up agencies by name, address, contact person, licence number or services, so an address is a usable way in. Once you find the record, compare the address the department holds against the office you are being asked to visit — a mismatch between the two is worth asking about before you go any further.
How do I verify a recruitment agency with POEA?
It is the same check under the department's current name. Overseas recruitment licensing now sits with the Department of Migrant Workers, whose official issuances page carries POEA's issuances as a subsumed agency, and the live directory is at https://dmw.gov.ph/inquiry/licensed-recruitment-agencies. Search however you like — just make sure you land on a .gov.ph address you typed yourself.
How much can an agency charge me, and when? A placement fee of up to one month's basic salary may be charged to a land-based worker, and only after the contract is signed. The 2023 DMW Rules governing land-based overseas Filipino workers state that "A placement fee may be charged against the Overseas Filipino Worker equivalent to one (1) month basic salary specified in the DMW-approved contract," and that "The worker shall pay the placement fee to the licensed recruitment agency only after signing the DMW-approved contract. The agency must issue a BIR-registered receipt stating the date and purpose of payment, and the exact amount paid." Domestic workers are excepted, and so are workers deployed to countries whose prevailing system does not allow the charging and collection of a placement fee. Which rule reaches you depends on where you are going, so confirm your destination and job category with the DMW — and note that the placement fee comes after the signed contract, never before it.
Sources
Licensed recruitment agencies directory — Department of Migrant Workers: https://dmw.gov.ph/inquiry/licensed-recruitment-agencies
Approved job orders directory — Department of Migrant Workers: https://dmw.gov.ph/inquiry/approved-job-orders
Official issuances, including POEA as a subsumed agency — Department of Migrant Workers: https://dmw.gov.ph/resources/issuances
Contact details and Migrant Workers Offices directory — Department of Migrant Workers: https://dmw.gov.ph/contact-us
Frequently asked questions, including direct hiring — Department of Migrant Workers: https://dmw.gov.ph/faqs
Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995 (Republic Act No. 8042), full text — Department of Migrant Workers: https://dmw.gov.ph/archives/poea/mandates/files/ra_8042.pdf
Omnibus Rules and Regulations implementing the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act as amended by Republic Act No. 10022 — Department of Migrant Workers: https://dmw.gov.ph/archives/poea/mandates/files/omnibus%20irr_ra10022.pdf
2023 DMW Rules and Regulations governing the recruitment and employment of landbased Overseas Filipino Workers, Department Circular No. 01 s. 2023 — Department of Migrant Workers: https://dmw.gov.ph/archives/v1/resources/dsms/DMW/ISN-EXT/2023/DMW-DC-01-2023.pdf