What happened
The people in these photographs are not one group. They are send-offs on eighteen different days of October — each group hired by a different employer, each with its own employment contract, permit and start date — photographed at the last step before boarding: documents in hand at the Prime Search office in Makati. Two hundred and sixty-eight of them left in the month: 197 for the Czech Republic, 54 for Italy, 9 for Slovakia, 6 for Lithuania and 2 for the United Kingdom.
Most of them went to manufacturing. The largest flows were production crews for automotive plants — more than eighty workers for four automotive employers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the biggest of them a 44-strong group that left in three waves — and two Italian shipbuilding and marine-industry employers that took 54 workers between them. The rest went to engineering, building-materials, construction and industrial employers, in groups of two to thirty.
Every departure is the end of a sequence that started months earlier: the employer's brief, sourcing from the Prime Search candidate base, a practical trade test, the employer's own interview and selection, an employment contract verified by the Migrant Workers Office with jurisdiction for the destination, the destination permit — Employee Card, nulla osta, single permit, temporary residence permit or Skilled Worker visa — the medical at a DOH-accredited clinic, document authentication, pre-departure orientation and the Overseas Employment Certificate. Nobody in these photographs is employed by an agency; each signed with the company they will work for, before leaving.
October also confirms the rhythm of a continuous pipeline. Departures rose from 143 in August to 217 in September and 268 in October — 628 workers in three months — while, in the same building and the same thirty days, 13 employers from five countries recruited the next 252 positions.
For an employer the number that matters is not 268 but the one behind each face: one line of accountability from the interview in Manila to the first shift on site. Recruitment runs through our own DMW-licensed agency in Manila; on the European side delivery runs through the group's licensed EU entity where its licence applies, and under the licensing and immigration rules of each destination everywhere else.
The route every worker in this cohort took
- Employer brief — roles, headcount, destination country; feasibility and route confirmed.
- Sourcing from Prime Search's own candidate base; practical trade tests at the Makati facilities.
- Employer interviews — on site in Makati, live online, or from recorded tests; the employer selects.
- Employment contract with the employer, signed and verified by the Migrant Workers Office for the destination.
- Destination-country permit — Employee Card, nulla osta, single permit, temporary residence permit or Skilled Worker visa — coordinated by us under the rules of each country.
- Medical, document authentication, pre-departure orientation, Overseas Employment Certificate.
- Send-off in Makati, flight, onboarding with the employer.
Where they went
Roles interviewed
Source: Deployment report of Prime Search Manpower Agency, October 2026 (268 workers, 1–30 October).