DFA: Overstaying OFW repatriated from Bahrain

With help from Philippine Embassy officials, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who had overstayed in Bahrain for nine years was finally brought home. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the embassy helped the overstaying OFW, whose name was not disclosed, avoid detention and huge immigration penalties. "The said OFW, who arrived in Bahrain in May 1999, refused to return to the Philippines after completion of his work contract as a machine flame cutter, hoping to find a company willing to take him in as a worker with appropriate company visa," the DFA said in an article posted Thursday on its website. According to the DFA, the OFW failed to regularize his visa status in Bahrain. While he was allowed to work with some companies, he never got to secure the transfer of his visa sponsorship. The embassy assisted the OFW in availing of the Labor Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA)'s "Easy Exit Scheme." It also made representations with labor and immigration authorities to facilitate his repatriation. Under the scheme, the OFW was only made to pay a minimal amount of 15 Bahraini dinar (P1,739) as penalty for his nine years of overstaying, instead of the regular penalty fee of BD180 (US$474 or P20,871). The embassy also issued the OFW a travel document in lieu of his lost passport to facilitate his repatriation. — RSJ, GMANews.TV