143 Filipino workers. Four countries. One month.

What happened

August 2026 was a month of departures rather than one big project. The 143 people in these photographs are not a single crew: they are dozens of separate groups, each hired by a different company, each with its own employment contract, its own permit and its own start date. What they share is the route — recruited, tested and documented in Manila, and flown to the employer that hired them.

Four destination countries means four different immigration systems running in parallel. Italy admits workers through the Decreto Flussi quota and the nulla osta. The Czech Republic uses the Employee Card. Lithuania issues a temporary residence permit on the basis of a work permit. Slovakia grants a single permit for residence and employment on the basis of a labour-office confirmation. Every one of those routes has its own timeline and its own paperwork, and in August all four delivered at the same time.

Behind every smile in the pictures are months of preparation that the employer never sees: skills interviews, trade tests, the medical, document authentication, embassy appointments, the DMW-mandated pre-departure orientation, the overseas employment certificate. The photographs were taken at the last step in Manila — the send-off at our Makati office, with the documents in hand — before each group boarded.

For an employer the important number is not 143. It is one: one line of accountability from the interview in Manila to the first shift on site. The recruitment agency on the Philippine side is ours and DMW-licensed; on the EU side, delivery runs through our own licensed entity where its licence applies, and under the licensing and immigration rules of each destination country everywhere else. Nobody in these photographs is employed by an agency. Each of them signed with the company they will work for — before departure, not on arrival.

Prime Search publishes departures like this openly on its Facebook page, which is followed by more than a million Filipino jobseekers. That reach is why the pipeline does not run dry: the people in the next photograph are already applying.

The route every worker in this cohort took

1. Employer defines the role, headcount and country; we confirm the permit route and a realistic timeline.
2. Sourcing through Prime Search's own candidate base; skills interviews and, for trades, a practical trade test in Manila.
3. Employer interviews shortlisted candidates and selects.
4. Employment contract with the employer signed by the worker and verified by the Migrant Workers Office with jurisdiction for the destination.
5. Permit and visa processing in the destination country and at the embassy in Manila — coordinated by us under employer power of attorney where the country allows it, or through a licensed immigration adviser where the destination regulates immigration advice.
6. Medical, document authentication, pre-departure orientation and overseas employment certificate.
7. Send-off in Makati, flight, local onboarding with the employer.

Where they went

Source: Published by Prime Search Manpower Agency on Facebook, 31 August 2026. Client names are withheld; individual employers are named only with their written consent.