You searched for the requirements for working abroad and got four different answers — a job board, an agency's page, somebody's Facebook roadmap — none agreeing, none saying who is allowed to take your money.
There is no single list because the documents come from four different sources: your own records; the Philippine government's clearances and registrations, which say you are documented to leave; your employer's side, the contract and its verification; and the destination's own gate, the visa or work permit. Once you see which office owns which document, most of the confusion goes — and most of the risk.
Your own records: passport, PSA documents, school papers
The Department of Foreign Affairs issues your passport, and nobody else can. How much validity you need left is not one Philippine rule: it is set by your destination and by the government's evaluation of your file, and it is longer than most assume. Confirm what yours asks before you book.
Civil records come from the Philippine Statistics Authority — a birth certificate, a marriage certificate if yours calls for one. Transcript and diploma come from your school. Documents often need authenticating before a foreign employer or government will accept them — the DFA runs that consular service. Whether you need it depends on your destination — our guide to credential recognition abroad covers this by profession.
The Philippine government's side
You will need a clearance — the rules name NBI, police or barangay clearance as alternatives, so it is one document, not three, usually the NBI clearance. The Department of Migrant Workers runs an online portal for the e-Registration number it says you need to be hired abroad; PEOS, the online pre-employment seminar, sits there too.
The Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC) is the DMW's document, not an agency's and not the destination's. The department is moving it onto a digital OFW Travel Pass — DMW Advisory No. 38, series of 2025 says the Pass initially covers returning workers, balik-manggagawa, going back to the same employer and country. Everyone else still uses DMW online services.
The Pre-Departure Orientation Seminar is mandatory for departing migrant workers, country-specific and sometimes skill-specific — OWWA's Citizen's Charter says so. But OWWA mostly recognises the providers — recruitment and manning agencies, industry associations, NGOs — so for most workers the agency delivers it. OWWA membership belongs here too.
SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG sit here as well. SSS coverage is compulsory for sea-based and land-based overseas Filipino workers not over sixty, land-based workers counting as self-employed members — that is the Social Security Act of 2018, Republic Act No. 11199. Two documents are job-dependent: a PRC licence and a TESDA certificate of competency for the job applied for, which also decide what work you can apply for.
This map is drawn for land-based workers hired through the regulated route. Seafarers have their own rules and manning agencies, and a balik-manggagawa does not face a first-timer's list. Being processed leaves you a record, and we have watched that record matter when somebody abroad needed help.
The employer's side: the contract somebody official has read
The employment contract that counts is the one the Philippine government has seen. Verification runs through the Migrant Workers Office at your destination — formerly POLO — or the Philippine Embassy there, and a verified contract is checked before a worker leaves. A contract nobody official has read is a different thing entirely.
The destination's gate: the work visa, and the medical
The work visa or work permit is issued by the country you are going to — not by a Philippine office and not by your agency. So when someone says "pay us and we'll arrange your visa", it is the payment that gives them away. Our country guide starts there. The medical exam belongs to both sides: for the Philippine government's own clearance, only a certificate from a DOH-accredited clinic for OFWs is acceptable, and your destination may run its own medical exam at its own clinics — a separate requirement.
Do you still need POEA to work abroad?
No — there is no POEA any more. The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration's work now sits with the Department of Migrant Workers. The old name will not die quietly: the DMW's own online services portal is still served from a page carrying the POEA name, and OWWA's Citizen's Charter, as of February 2025, still describes registration as happening "at the POEA".
"POEA-accredited" still gets used as a selling line, and only the register settles it. The DMW publishes a searchable directory of licensed recruitment agencies with each licence status — anything but valid is your answer. How to verify a licensed recruitment agency walks through reading it.
Can a Filipino work abroad without an agency?
Yes — but in narrower cases than most hope, and the law is written about your employer, not you. Article 18 of the Labor Code says no employer may hire a Filipino worker for overseas employment except through the authorised entities, and that direct hiring by members of the diplomatic corps, international organizations and such other employers as may be allowed is exempted. The professional and skilled-worker route has limits: a verified or authenticated contract on terms above the standard ones, five first-time hires per employer, and domestic workers excluded from the hired-by-a-relative-abroad route.
Without an agency has never meant without the government: a direct hire is still cleared and documented before departure, and the rules name deploying a worker whose documents were not processed by the government as illegal recruitment.
What nobody should be charging you for
A placement fee is paid to a licensed agency only after the contract is signed, and against a BIR-registered receipt stating the date and the exact amount — so a fee asked for before a signed contract is the signal, every time. Some workers owe none: the rules exempt domestic workers, and workers bound for countries where placement fees are not allowed — the DMW determines which, so ask them, not the person collecting. Some costs were never yours: the rules put the visa, the work permit and the airfare on the employer's side, and passing those to the worker is itself illegal recruitment. That allocation covers land-based workers hired through a licensed agency; the DMW publishes the current schedule.
People protect themselves by memorising warning signs. It half works. What protects you is orientation: someone who knows which office owns which document cannot be sold something the government issues. The paperwork is a one-time gate — the qualification behind it keeps opening doors.
Before you hand over a single document
- Search the agency's exact name on the DMW register; read its status.
- Confirm what your destination requires of your passport.
- Get the current exit-clearance rule from the DMW.
- Ask which documents your job requires before paying.
- Sign the contract before any placement fee changes hands; keep the receipt.
- Keep copies of everything you hand over.
The Questions Filipinos Ask Us Most
What are the requirements for a Filipino to work abroad? Four things from four sources: your own records, the government's clearances and registration, your employer's verified contract, and the destination's visa. The list depends on your job and destination.
What documents are needed to work abroad? A passport, a clearance, PSA civil records, a verified employment contract, the government's exit clearance, and the destination's visa or work permit — plus a PRC licence or TESDA certificate if the job calls for it.
Do I need POEA to work abroad? No — the POEA no longer exists; its work is the Department of Migrant Workers'. The old name still appears in government material, so meeting it does not make a page fake — but "POEA-accredited" as a sales line should send you to the register.
Can a Filipino work abroad without an agency? Yes, in narrow cases. Direct hiring is restricted to exempted employers under Article 18, and the worker is still cleared and documented by the government before departure.
Sources
Licensed recruitment agencies — Department of Migrant Workers: https://dmw.gov.ph/inquiry/licensed-recruitment-agencies
Authentication of documents — DFA Office of Consular Affairs: https://consular.dfa.gov.ph/authentication-certification-verify/
e-Registration — DMW Online Services: https://onlineservices.dmw.gov.ph/
OFW Travel Pass — DMW Advisory No. 38, s. 2025: https://dmw.gov.ph/archives/v1/resources/dsms/DMW/ISN-EXT/2025/DMW-ADVISORY-38-2025.pdf
Article 18, ban on direct-hiring — Department of Migrant Workers: https://dmw.gov.ph/archives/poea/laws&rules/files/Labor%20Code%20of%20the%20Philippines%20Provisions%20on%20Overseas%20Employment).html
Direct hiring Q&A — Direct Hire Assistance Division: https://dmw.gov.ph/archives/poea/files/21%20FAQ%20DH.pdf
Placement fees and documentation costs — Revised POEA Rules Q&A (2016): https://dmw.gov.ph/archives/poea/laws%26rules/files/Q%20%26%20A%20on%20Revised%20POEA%20Rules%202016.pdf
OWWA membership and PDOS — Citizen's Charter, February 2025: https://owwa.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/OWWA_CC_032125_workingfile-3.pdf
SSS coverage of OFWs — Implementing Rules, Republic Act No. 11199: https://www.lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra2019/irr_11199_2019.html